Camper P, Camper, Peter
Full Name: Peter Camper
Achievements: Scientific and medical research
Born: May 11, 1722; Leyden, Netherlands
Died: April 7, 1789; The Hague, Netherlands (Aged 67)
Field & Discipline: Medicine; Anatomy; Surgery; Optics; Anthropology
Language: Dutch
Father: Florentius Camper
Mother: Sara Geertruida Ketting
Siblings: Unknown
Spouse: Johanna Bourboom
Children: Unknown
Education: Leyden University
Major Work:
"Demonstrationum anatomico-pathologicarum" (1760-62).
Life & Times:
Camper's father was a prosperous minister who had served in the Dutch East Indies and retired to Leyden where he was acquainted with many eminent scientists (such as [family friend was] Boerhaave*).
Camper's intelligence was recognised by his father and at the age of twelve Camper entered Leyden University where he remained for the next twelve years. He studied natural science, medicine and classics. [taught by] Pieter van Musschenbroek* was one of his tutors. He practised midwifery in the clinics at Leyden and qualified as a doctor in 1746. After two years medical practice he left Leyden in 1748.
He travelled to England where he attended a course in midwifery and was made a member of the Painters' Academy. Camper was a skilled draughtsman and later wrote a treatise on the relations between anatomy and the artistic skills of drawing, painting and sculpting ("On the Connection between the Science of Anatomy and the Arts of Drawing, Painting, Statuary", 1794) which was translated and published in English after his death.
Camper visited France, Switzerland and Germany, making contact with scientists wherever he went.
In 1751, he became professor of philosophy, medicine and surgery at Franeker University in the Netherlands province of Friesland. His inaugural address, entitled "De mundo optimo" was on the theme of “the best of all possible worlds.” In 1755 he was appointed professor of anatomy and surgery at the Athenaeum Illustre in Amsterdam. He made the application of anatomy to all sciences the subject of his inaugural address and in his wide-ranging anatomical researches and use of comparative anatomy he anticipated the later work of [anticipated] Cuvier*.
In the course of his research, Camper dissected large animals such as the elephant, the rhinoceros and the orangutan. He studied the hearing of fishes, and the croaking of frogs, and he discovered the air spaces in the bones of birds. Camper performed dissections for the surgeons' guild and developed a surgical procedure for cutting out bladder stones. He also continued to practice midwifery and performed a number of experimental symphysiotomies (cutting through the "symphysis pubis" to facilitate delivery) on pigs, although none on humans. He was made professor medicine in 1758 and gave an address on certainty in medicine. Camper supported inoculation, and he also wrote a valuable thesis on vision.
He resigned in 1761 and settled with his wife at their country house near Franeker where he continued his research in comparative anatomy and finished his book on pathological anatomy, "Demonstrationum anatomico-pathologicarum" (1760-62) in which he described various anatomical structures that still associated with him or named after him: Camper's fascia, and Camper's "chiasma tendinum digitorum manus".
Camper had gone to the country to please his wife but he was bored, and in 1764 he took another academic appointment at Groningen University where he taught theoretical medicine, forensic medicine, anatomy, surgery and botany. This time he gave an address on the analogy between animals and plants.
Camper was famous all over the continent and was involved in the establishment of anthropology through his correspondence with [corresponded with] Blumenbach*. [corresponded with] Goethe* sent his treatise on the inter-maxillary bone to Camper. Camper retired in 1773 and returned to his country home.
Friesland was vulnerable to flooding and in 1776 there was extensive flooding in the area. Camper started a controversy about the best way to manage this by writing a pamphlet criticizing the building of dikes. This brought him into civic affairs and he became a burgomaster and a member of the Friesland parliament. He was sent to represent Friesland at the States-General in the Hague and was made a member of the State Council. In 1785 he visited England again.
Assessment: Camper was one of the most well-known scientists of his day and had a comprehensive knowledge of many branches of science.
Oneliner: Peter Camper, 18th century Dutch medical expert
Bibliography:
- Dictionary of Scientific Biography.