born Dec. 31, 1668, Voorhout, Neth.
died Sept. 23, 1738, Leiden
Dutch physician.
As a professor at the University of Leiden, he was renowned as a teacher, and he is often credited with founding the modern system of teaching medical students at the patient's bedside. His reputation as one of the greatest physicians of the 18th century lay partly in his attempts to organize the mass of medical information known at the time, in a series of major texts and encyclopedic works.
Boerhaave, detail of a portrait by Cornelis Troost; in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
By courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam