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Boerhaave Museum Top Collection: all rooms | |
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zaal 4: De Leidse universiteit. Boerhaave en ‘s Gravensande |  |
| Click to view the first showcase |
Of the five universities in the Dutch Republic around 1700 Leiden –founded in 1575- was oldest. It possessed the first observatory in the Netherlands, and it was the first European university to welcome the new experimaeental physics.
Between about 1710 and 1740 two Leiden professors determined the face of Dutch science. Herman Boerhaave, physician, botanist and chemist, with his lecturing and bedside teaching attracted students from all over the world,
Physics flourshed thanks to Willem Jacob ’s Gravesande, who played a major role in spreading the new science of the Englishman Isaac Newton throughout Europe.
’s Gravesande’s demonstration apparatus was built to order by the instrument-maker Jan van Musschenbroek. This apparatus formed the nucleus of the Leiden Cabinet of Physics, the university’s collection of scientific instruments. The oldest items (c. 1675 -1740) are on display in this room.