Hieronymus David Gaubius (24 February 1705 – 29 November 1780) was a German physician and chemist.

Life

He was a native of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. He studied medicine and sciences at the Universities of

Harderwijk Harderwijk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city of the Netherlands. It is served by the Harderwijk railway station. Its population centres are Harderwijk and Hierden. Harderwijk is on the western boundary of the Veluwe. The south ...

and

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, where he was a pupil of

Hermann Boerhaave Herman Boerhaave (, 31 December 1668 – 23 September 1738Underwood, E. Ashworth. "Boerhaave After Three Hundred Years." ''The British Medical Journal'' 4, no. 5634 (1968): 820–25. .) was a Dutch chemist, botanist, Christian humanist, and ph ...

(1668–1738) and

Bernhard Siegfried Albinus Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (originally Weiss; 24 February 16979 September 1770) was a Germany, German-born Netherlands, Dutch anatomist. He served a professor of medicine at the Leiden University, University of Leiden like his father Bernhardus ...

(1697–1770). He earned his degree at Leiden in 1725 with a thesis on

psychosomatic medicine Psychosomatic medicine is an interdisciplinary medical field exploring the relationships among social, psychological, behavioral factors on bodily processes and quality of life in humans and animals. The academic forebearer of the modern field o ...

called . After graduation he continued his training in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and then practiced medicine in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and

Deventer Deventer (; Sallaans dialect, Sallands: ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Salland historical region of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel, ...

. In 1731 Gaubius was invited to Leiden by Boerhaave as a lecturer in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

, and in 1734 he became a full professor of medicine and chemistry. Gaubius isolated

menthol Menthol is an organic compound, specifically a Monoterpene, monoterpenoid, that occurs naturally in the oils of several plants in the Mentha, mint family, such as Mentha arvensis, corn mint and peppermint. It is a white or clear waxy crystallin ...

in 1771. He was elected a

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

in 1764.

Works

One of his best known works was ''Institutiones Pathologiae medicinalis'', a 1758 textbook on systematic

pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

that remained popular for many years.

References

* * "This article is based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

Dutch Wikipedia The Dutch Wikipedia () is the Dutch-language edition of the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. It was founded on 19 June 2001. As of , the Dutch Wikipedia is the -largest Wikipedia edition, with articles. It was the fourth Wikipedia ed ...

External links

* * 1705 births 1780 deaths Scientists from Heidelberg University of Harderwijk alumni Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University 18th-century German physicians 18th-century German chemists Fellows of the Royal Society Physicians from Heidelberg {{Germany-chemist-stub