Urban Hjärne (20 December 1641 – 10 March 1724) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

, geologist, physician and writer.

Biography

He was born at Skworitz near

Nyenschantz Nyenschantz (russian: Ниенша́нц, ''Nienshants''; sv, Nyenskans; fi, Nevanlinna) was a Swedish fortress at the confluence of the Neva River and Okhta River, the site of present-day Saint Petersburg, Russia. Nyenschantz was built in 1611 ...

in Swedish Ingria. He was the son of vicar Erlandus Jonæ Hiærne (1596–1654) and Christina Tomasdotter Schmidt (1615–1682). He was admitted in 1655 to the high school gymnasium in

Dorpat Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

. He went to Arva, where he studied until 1657. He entered

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

in 1658. He began his medical education at Uppsala in 1661. For several years he visited Northern Europe's leading research center for medicine. He travelled to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. In 1670 he became a doctor of medicine at Angers, France. In 1674 he settled as a physician in Stockholm where his practice primarily served the aristocracy. In 1669 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

. He was appointed first physician to the King

Charles XI of Sweden Charles XI or Carl ( sv, Karl XI; ) was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period of Swedish history known as the Swedish Empire (1611–1721). He was the only son of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein- ...

in 1684 and was ennobled in 1689. He became assessor of the Board of Mines (''Bergskollegium'') in 1675. He became head of the Laboratorium Chemicum in 1683. He was also the author of ''Stratonice'', sometimes claimed to be the first Swedish novel, a partly autobiographical romance of seduction begun in 1665 and published in several parts, completed in 1668. In Sweden, Urban Hjärne is also known for his fight against witch trials. He was a member of the Witchcraft Commission in the Katarina witch trials during the Great noise in 1676, and is remembered as one of the members of the Commission who started to feel scepticism toward witchraft and doubt the child wittnesses, leading to the wittnesses to be exposed as liars and the dissolution of the Katarina witch trials, the Witcraft Commission, and ultimately the entire Witch hunt.Urban Hiärne, urn:sbl:13625, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Sten Lindroth), hämtad 2022-09-16.

Personal life

He built a research library of 3,500 books, one of the largest in Sweden. He married three times: first Maria Svahn, then Catharina Elisabeth Bergenhielm, and finally Elisabeth Carlsdotter. He died in Stockholm in 1724 and was buried at

Bromma Church Bromma kyrka is a round church in the borough Bromma in Stockholm, Sweden. The oldest parts of the church were built in the later 12th century as a fortress church, and the church is among Stockholm's oldest buildings. Today it has seven parts: ...

Biography

Personal life

References

Other sources

Further reading