# Govert Bidloo > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Govert_Bidloo > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Govert_Bidloo.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Govert_Bidloo > Source revision: 1341919022 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Dutch Golden Age physician, anatomist, poet and playwright}} [[File:Govard Bidloo portrait.jpg|thumb|Portrait with [scalpel](/source/scalpel) as the new [Vesalius](/source/Vesalius), by [Gerard de Lairesse](/source/Gerard_de_Lairesse), engraved by [Abraham Blooteling](/source/Abraham_Blooteling), the frontispiece to his anatomical atlas.]] {{Other people|Bidloo}} '''Govert Bidloo''' or '''Govard Bidloo''' (12 March 1649 – 30 March 1713) was a [Dutch Golden Age](/source/Dutch_Golden_Age) physician, anatomist, poet and playwright. He was the personal physician of [William III of Orange-Nassau](/source/William_III_of_England), Dutch [stadholder](/source/stadholder) and King of [England](/source/King_of_England), [Scotland](/source/King_of_Scotland) and [Ireland](/source/King_of_Ireland). Bidloo was also a prolific and popular poet, opera [librettist](/source/librettist), and playwright. He wrote the libretto for the first-ever Dutch opera, ''[Bacchus, Ceres en Venus](/source/Bacchus%2C_Ceres_en_Venus)'' (1686) by [Johan Schenck](/source/Johan_Schenck). His collected works were published in three volumes after his death. One of Bidloo's students was his nephew [Nicolaas Bidloo](/source/Nicolaas_Bidloo), who would go on to become the personal physician of Russian czar [Peter the Great](/source/Peter_the_Great), and also founded a medical school in [Moscow](/source/Moscow). ==Life and career== Born into a Mennonite family of [Amsterdam](/source/Amsterdam), the son and namesake of a hatter, he was the younger brother of the literary apothecary, [Lambert Bidloo](/source/Lambert_Bidloo) (1638-1724), a thorough classicist who saw to it that he had a requisite mastery of Latin as well as Dutch. Govert then began his apprenticeship in surgery and in 1670 became a student of the anatomist [Frederik Ruysch](/source/Frederik_Ruysch). He then studied medicine at the [University of Franeker](/source/University_of_Franeker), receiving his degree in 1682. In 1688 he became a lecturer of anatomical dissection in [The Hague](/source/The_Hague), and in 1690 he was appointed head of the national hospital service, a post he also held in [England](/source/England) from 1692. In 1694 he became a professor of anatomy and medicine at the [University of Leiden](/source/Leiden_University), a position he held until his death in 1713, when he was succeeded by [Herman Boerhaave](/source/Herman_Boerhaave). ==''Anatomia Hvmani Corporis'', 1685== In 1685 he published an anatomical atlas, ''Anatomia Hvmani Corporis'' ({{langx|nl|Ontleding des menschelyken lichaams}}) (1690.) ''Anatomia Hvmani Corporis'' described papillary ridges on skin ([fingerprint](/source/fingerprint)s). This was one of the pioneering scientific observations which laid the foundation of forensic identification using fingerprints.{{cite book|last1=Miller Grinstead|first1=Charles|last2=Paul Peterson|first2=William|last3=Laurie Snell|first3=James|title=Probability Tales|date=2010|publisher=American Mathematical Society|location=USA|page=192|isbn=9780821852613|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATCIAwAAQBAJ|access-date=12 August 2014}} The atlas was illustrated with 105 plates by [Gerard de Lairesse](/source/Gerard_de_Lairesse),{{Cite book|url=https://anatomia.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/anatomia%3ARBAI023|title=Anatomia humani corporis, centum & quinque tabulis, per artificiossis. G. de Lairesse ad vivum delineatis, demonstrata, veterum recentiorumque inventis explicata plurimisque, hactenus non detectis, illustrata.|last=Bidloo|first=Govard|publisher=Sumptibus viduæ J. a Someren|year=1685|location=Amsterdam|via=University of Toronto Libraries}} showing the human figure both in living attitudes and as dissected cadavers. The book was later plagiarized by English surgeon [William Cowper](/source/William_Cowper_(anatomist)) for his ''Anatomy of the Humane Bodies'' (1698), which gave no credit to either Bidloo or de Lairesse. This led to a number of vitriolic exchanges between Bidloo and Cowper, including several pamphlets published in each anatomist's defense. Bidloo contributed to discovery of the life cycle of the [liver fluke](/source/liver_fluke) ''[Fasciola hepatica](/source/Fasciola_hepatica)''. He observed [worm](/source/worm)s of an identical anatomy in [bile duct](/source/bile_duct)s of [sheep](/source/sheep), [calves](/source/Calf_(animal)), [deer](/source/deer) and humans. He also observed the presence of eggs inside the body of an unknown worm, later recognized as ''F. hepatica''.{{cite book | last1 = Andrews | first1 = J.S. | title = [Fasciolosis](/source/Fasciolosis) | location = Wallington | publisher = CABI publishing | year= 1999 | pages = 1–29 }} [William III](/source/William_III_of_England), Dutch [stadholder](/source/stadholder) and [king of England](/source/king_of_England), asked Bidloo to become his personal physician in 1695. The king died in his arms on 8 March 1702. He was elected a [Fellow of the Royal Society](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society) of London in 1696.{{cite web| url= https://catalogues.royalsociety.org/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=NA5630| title= Library and Archive catalogue| publisher= Royal Society| access-date= 24 May 2024}} He died, aged 64, in [Leiden](/source/Leiden). ==Gallery== {| | thumb|left|170px | thumb|left|170px | thumb|left|170px |} ==References== {{reflist}} ==Sources== *[http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/anatomy/bidloo.html University of Glasgow] *[http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/wits004biog01/wits004biog01_080.htm Biographisch anthologisch en critisch woordenboek der Nederduitsche dichters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050903014606/http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/wits004biog01/wits004biog01_080.htm |date=2005-09-03 }} (Dutch) *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930120701/http://www.griffioen.biz/argeweb/downloads/jaarverslag%202004.doc Stichting Medisch en Farmaceutisch Museum De Griffioen] (Dutch) ==External links== {{Commons category|Govert Bidloo}} *[https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/bidloo_home.html US National Institutes of Health: Historical Anatomies on the Web] Govert Bidloo's ''Anatomia Humani Corporis (Ontleding des menschelyken lichaams)'' *[http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/bidloo1685 ''Godefridi Bidloo, Medicinae Doctoris & Chirurgi, Anatomia Hvmani Corporis: Centum & quinque Tabvlis Per artificiosiss. G. De Lairesse ad vivum delineatis, Demonstrata, Veterum Recentiorumque Inventis explicata plurimisque, hactenus non detectis, Illvstrata''] 105 illustrations. Amsterdam 1685 * [http://www.cppdigitallibrary.org/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=contains&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Bidloo%2C+Govard%2C+1649-1713.+Anatomia+humani+corporis Selected images from ''Anatomia humani corporis''] From The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Bidloo, Govert}} Category:1649 births Category:1713 deaths Category:17th-century Dutch anatomists Category:17th-century Dutch medical doctors Category:17th-century Dutch dramatists and playwrights Category:17th-century Dutch poets Category:Dutch male poets Category:Opera librettists Category:Medical doctors from Amsterdam Category:Writers from Amsterdam Category:University of Franeker alumni Category:Academic staff of Leiden University Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:Dutch male dramatists and playwrights Category:17th-century male writers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Govert Bidloo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Govert_Bidloo) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Govert_Bidloo?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.