Regnier de Graaf
 |
Regnier de Graaf |
Regnier de Graaf (
July 30,
1641 â€"
August 17,
1673), his first name is often spelled
Reinier or
Reynier), was a
Dutch physician and
anatomist.
Graff was born in
Schoonhoven,
Netherlands. After studying medicine in
Utrecht and
Leiden, where he submitted his
doctoral thesis on the
pancreas, De Graaf went to
France where he obtained his
medical degree from the University of
Angers. While in Paris he also turned to the study of the male
genitalia, which led to a publication in 1668. Back in the Netherlands in 1667, De Graaf established himself in
Delft. Since he was a
Catholic in a mainly
Protestant country, he was unable to follow a university career. After the early death of a son, De Graaf died in 1673, at age 32, and was buried in the
Oude Kerk in Delft. The reason for his death is unknown; recent speculation that he may have committed suicide is entirely unfounded. A few months before his death De Graaf recommended, as a member of the
Royal Society in
London, that attention be paid to
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and his excellent
microscopes.
De Graaf is famous for having realised the function of the
ovarian follicle (which is
named Graafian follicle in his honour, although others, including
Fallopius, had noticed the follicles previously), described the anatomy of the
testicles and collected secretions of the
gall bladder and the
pancreas.
| The Ovary by Reinier de Graaf |
|  | Ectopic pregnancy by Reinier de Graaf, copied, as he acknowledged, from an earlier French publication |
|
From the observation of
pregnancy in rabbits, he concluded that inside a follicle an
oocyte had to be present, although he never observed it. De Graaf also described the function of the
Fallopian tubes and deduced the consequences of
hydrosalpinx on
fertility.
* Houtzager HL.
Reinier de Graaf 1641-1673 (
Dutch). Rotterdam: Erasmus publishing, 1991. ISBN 90-5235-021-3.
*
Short biography*
Britannica entry
