Burchard de Volder

Burchard de Volder (26 July 1643 – 21 March 1709) was a Dutch physicist.

Burchard de Volder
Born	26 July 1643 Amsterdam, Dutch Republic
Died	21 March 1709 (1709-03-22) (aged 65) Leiden, Dutch Republic
Nationality	Dutch
Education	University of Utrecht (M.A., 1660) University of Leiden (M.D., 1664)
Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Institutions	University of Leiden
Theses	De Simplicitate Dei, Echo et Republica  (1660) De Natura (1664)
Doctoral advisor	Franciscus Sylvius
Other academic advisors	Johannes de Bruin [de]
Notable students	Herman Boerhaave[1]

Biography

He was born in a Mennonite family in Amsterdam. He earned an M.A. in philosophy at the University of Utrecht under Johannes de Bruin [de] in 1660. He earned his medical doctorate from the University of Leiden under Franciscus Sylvius in 1664.^[2] He became professor of physics at Leiden University in 1670.^[3] Thanks to the efforts of the Volder, a physics laboratory at the University of Leiden was established in 1675. He collected measuring instruments of all kinds and performed many physics demonstrations, particularly those illustrating the discoveries of Robert Boyle. This laboratory was unique for its time. He is further famous as one of Gottfried Leibniz's most important philosophical correspondents.^[4][5]

De Volder's work drew many foreign students. One of his most famous students was Herman Boerhaave.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. Gerrit Arie Lindeboom (ed.), Boerhaave and His Time, Brill, 1970, p. 7.
2. Burchard de Volder (1664). "De Natura" (PDF).
3. "List of Professors at Leiden University".
4. Paul Lodge, "Leibniz's Close Encounter with Cartesiansim in the Correspondence with De Volder", in Leibniz and His Correspondents Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-521-83410-4, pp. 162-192.
5. The Leibniz-De Volder Correspondence, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.

External links

• Burchard de Volder at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
• Ph.D. students of B. de Volder