Franciscus Sylvius

Infobox Scientist |name =Franciscus Sylvius
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caption =Franciscus Sylvius
birth_date =March 15, 1614
birth_place =Hanau, Germany
death_date =November 19, 1672
death_place =Holland
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field =chemist, physiologist and anatomist
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doctoral_advisor =Adolph Vorstius, Otto Heurnius, Emmanuel Stupanus.
doctoral_students =Jan Swammerdam, Reinier de Graaf, Niels Stensen and Burchard de Volder
known_for =Sylvian fissure
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Franciscus Sylvius (1614-1672), also known as Franz De Le Boe, was physician and scientist (chemist, physiologist and anatomist). He was born in Hanau, Germany but worked and died in Holland. He studied in Leiden under Adolph Vorstius and Otto Heurnius and in Basel under Emmanuel Stupanus. [cite book |last= Hoefer |first= Jean C.F. |title= Histoire de la chimie depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'a notre époque |publisher= Paris: Hachette |year= 1843 | pages= 222 | oclc= 14166162 | url= http://books.google.com/books?id=ApYAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA222#PPA222,M1 ] [cite book |last= Koehler |first= Peter J. |coauthors= George W. Bruyn, John M. S. Pearce |title= Neurological Eponyms |publisher= New York: Oxford University Press |year= 2000 | pages= 51 | oclc= 42969585 | url= http://books.google.com/books?id=94llxrp8FCIC&pg=PA51&#PPA51,M1 |id=ISBN 0195133668 ] In 1658 he was appointed the professor of medicine at the University of Leyden and was paid 1800 guilders which was twice the usual salary. He was the University's Vice-Chancellor in 1669-70. He founded the Iatrochemical School of Medicine, according to which all life and disease processes are based on chemical actions. That school of thought attempted to understand medicine in terms of universal rules of physics and chemistry. Sylvius also introduced the concept of chemical affinity as a way to understand the way the human body uses salts and contributed greatly to the understanding of digestion and of bodily fluids. The most important work he published was, "Praxeos medicae idea nova, 1671" (New idea in medical practice). His collected works were published in 1671. He was one of the earliest defenders of the circulation of the blood in Holland. He most famous students were Jan Swammerdam, Reinier de Graaf, Niels Stensen and Burchard de Volder.

He researched the structure of the brain and discovered the cleft in the brain now known as Sylvian fissure. Sylvius' angle is also named after him.

References

* Underwood, E. A. "`". "Endeavor", May 1972, 31 (113): 73-76.

External links

* [http://www.fasthealth.com/dictionary/s/sylvian_fissure.php Sylvian fissure]
* [http://neurotree.org/neurotree/tree.php?pid=619&fontsize=0&pnodecount=4&cnodecount=2 Syvius' Neurotree profile]
* [http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/sylvius.html Sylvius, Franciscus dele Bo]