| Rasmus Bartholin | |
|---|---|
 Rasmus Bartholin | |
| Born | 13 August 1625 Roskilde |
| Died | 4 November 1698 (aged 73) Copenhagen |
| Nationality | Danish |
| Known for | Double refraction of a light ray |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
Rasmus Bartholin (/bɑːrˈtoʊlɪn, ˈbɑːrtəlɪn/; Latinized: Erasmus Bartholinus; 13 August 1625 – 4 November 1698) was a Danish physician and grammarian.
Biography
Bartholin was born in Roskilde. He was the son of Caspar Bartholin the Elder (1585–1629) and Anna Fincke, daughter of the mathematician Thomas Fincke.
As part of his studies, he travelled in Europe for ten years. He stayed in the Netherlands, England, France and Italy. In 1647, he took a Master's degree at the University of Copenhagen. In 1654, he received a Doctoral degree at the University of Padua.
He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen, first in Geometry, later in Medicine. He was also dean of the faculty of medicine, librarian, and rector. He wrote, in Latin, the first grammar of the Danish language, the 1657 De studio lingvæ danicæ.
Rasmus Bartholin is remembered especially for his discovery (1669) of the double refraction of a light ray by Iceland spar (calcite). He published an accurate description of the phenomenon, but since the physical nature of light was poorly understood at the time, he was unable to explain it. It was only after Thomas Young proposed the wave theory of light, c. 1801 that an explanation became possible.
Personal
He was a younger brother of Thomas Bartholin (1616–1680).
References
- "Fincke, Thomas, 1561-1656". Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- Erasmus Bartholin School of Mathematics and Statistics. University of St Andrews, Scotland
- Erasmus Bartholin, Experimenta crystalli islandici disdiaclastici quibus mira & insolita refractio detegitur (Copenhagen ("Hafniæ"), Denmark: Daniel Paulli, 1669). English translation: Experiments with the double refracting Iceland crystal which led to the discovery of a marvelous and strange refraction, tr. by Werner Brandt. Westtown, Pa., 1959.
- "Erasmus Bartholin | Danish physician and physicist". Encyclopedia Britannica.
- V. Meisen. "Thomas Bartholin". Dansk Biografisk Leksikon Gyldendal. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
External links
- "De figura nivis". In Thomas Bartolin, De nivis usu medico observationes variae. Accessit D. Erasmi Bartholini de figura nivis dissertatio, p. PA241, at Google Books. Copenhagen: P. Haubold, 1661
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Erasmus Bartholin", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- Bartholin, Erasmus 1625-1698 worldcat.org