Jan Swammerdam (1637 - 1680)

Jan Swammerdam

Jan Swammerdam was a Dutch naturalist and biologist, anatomist and microscopist.

Swammerdam graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Leiden University, then studied in Paris, earning a doctorate in medicine, and devoted himself exclusively to microscopic research. He used a single-lens microscope to study insect anatomy, and accurately described and illustrated the life history and anatomy of many species. His observations of their development allowed him to divide insects into four major divisions according to the degree and type of metamorphosis. His greatest contribution to biology was to understand insect development and to demonstrate that the same organism persists through different stages.

Jan Swammerdam wrote a voluminous work entitled A General History of Insects (1669) and The Bible of Nature (1737-1738), one of the finest collections of microscopic observations ever published. Considered the most accurate of the classical microscopists, he was the first to observe and describe erythrocytes in 1658.

Swammerdam was also a recognized anatomist: in 1670 he was granted the privilege of dissecting human bodies in Amsterdam, which at the time required a special license available only to a limited number of researchers. He developed a new dissection technique and also designed several new instruments.