Alternate Name
BornUtrecht (Netherlands), 4 February 1543
DiedLeiden (Netherlands), 11 August 1601
Dutch physician and natural philosopher, much admired and in demand as a medical practitioner, Johannes Heurnius was one of a number of contemporary scholars who observed the comet of 1577 (C/1577 V1) and published a report on it.
Born in the Utrecht nobility, Heurnius suffered in his early years from serious developmental difficulties. He could not read until age 10 nor express himself grammatically until he was 14. Then, in his late teenage years, he went to study at the Utrecht Hieronymus School, where unexpectedly he overcame whatever deficiency he may have had, and grew up to become a prolific writer and a world-famous physician.
When he was 18, Heurnius left Utrecht for Leuven, where he registered at the University. His masters there included Andreas van Gennep (Balenus, 1484–1568) and Cornelius Gemma, with whom he lived for awhile. For the next couple of years, he...
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Selected References
“Aa, Abraham Jacob van der.” s.v. Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden (1867), 733–738. Vol.8, Part I. Haarlem: J.J., van Brederode.
“Bunge Wiep van.” s.v. The Dictionary of Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Dutch Philosophers (2003), pp. 430–432. Vol. I. Bristol, England: Thoemmes Press.
Heurnius, Johannes (1577). De Historie, Natuere, ende Beduidenisse der erschrickeliche Comeet, die geopenbaert is int Jaer ons Heren. Cologne: Niclas Bohmberg, Willem Jansz van Campen. [Original Dutch version of the text. A rare book – with only one entry in WorldCat.]
Heurnius, Johannes. De naturâ et praesagio horrendi Cometae, qui anno M.D. LXXVII orbem terrarum terruit s.l. s.e. [Latin version of the same. A very rare book – no entry in WorldCat. Its existence is attested by 18th and 19th century bibliographers.]
Heurnius, Johannes (1608). Opera omnia duos tomos divisa, tam ad theoriam, quam ad praxin medicam spectantia, ab Othone Heurmo in duos tomos distributa ac edita. [The work includes 12 pages, unnumbered of a biography of Heurnius, by his son Otto] Lugduni Batavorum: Sumptibus Ioannis Antonii Huguetan & Marci Antonii Ravaud.
Nouhuys, Tabitta van (1998). The Age of Two - Faced Janus : the comets of 1577 and 1618 and the decline of the Aristotelian world view in the Netherlands, Leiden/Boston: Brill.
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Bellemare, P.M. (2014). Heurnius, Johannes. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_9291
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