AdriaanGillesCamperProfilDrawing1814RijksmuseumCarlChristiaanFuchs1792-1855

Adriaan Gilles Camper (March 31, 1759 – February 5, 1820) was a 19th-century Dutch mathematics and physics professor at the

University of Franeker The University of Franeker (1585–1811) was a university in Franeker, Friesland, the Netherlands. It was the second oldest university of the Netherlands, founded shortly after Leiden University. History Also known as ''Academia Franekerensis'' ...

who took to politics and became a statesman in his later years. He was the son of

Petrus Camper Petrus Camper FRS (11 May 1722 – 7 April 1789), was a Dutch physician, anatomist, physiologist, midwife, zoologist, anthropologist, palaeontologist and a naturalist in the Age of Enlightenment. He was one of the first to take an interest in ...

is known today primarily for his paleontological work in collaboration with his father, causing several fossil

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

s to be named after him, such as the

Puppigerus ''Puppigerus'' is an extinct genus of sea turtle from the Eocene. It is known from finds in the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, and Uzbekistan. Taxonomy ''Puppigerus'' was described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1870. As of 19 ...

P. Camperi. The engravings he commissioned on the basis of his father's work were published by

Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (17 May 174118 July 1819) was a French geologist, volcanologist and traveller. Life He was born at Montélimar. He was educated at the Jesuit's College at Lyon and afterwards at Grenoble where he studied law and ...

. He himself wrote several books on paleontology, including a catalog of his collection of fossils and minerals. His daughter Frederica married one of his pupils in Franeker, the Dutch geologist J.G.S. van Breda (who later became curator of the

Teylers Museum Teylers Museum () is an art, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum was founded as a centre for contemporary art and science. The historic centre of the museum is the neoclassical Oval R ...

in Haarlem). Van Breda wrote a biography of father-in-law, in which he describes him as the home-schooled wunderkind who entered the University of Franeker at age 14 already learned in natural history and modern languages from his close association with his father.Levens-schets van Adriaan Gilles Camper
by J.G.S. van Breda on

Google books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

Three years later, in 1776, his mother died, and his father was so struck by the loss that he undertook a leave of absence from the university to travel to Paris and the young Adriaan went with him. There due to the fame of his father, they were received with open arms by the various learned societies such as the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

and consorted with Louis, Antoine Portal,

Jacques-René Tenon Jacques-René Tenon (, 21 February 1724 – 16 January 1816) was a French surgeon born near the town of Joigny. He was very active in hospital reform during the second half of the 18th century. His seminal treatise on hospital design and managemen ...

Julien-David Le Roy French engraver Julien-David Le Roy or Leroy (; 6 May 1724 in Paris – 28 January 1803 in Paris) was an 18th-century French architect and archaeologist, who engaged in a rivalry with Britons James Stuart and Nicholas Revett over who woul ...

, the Count

Jean-Charles de Borda Jean-Charles, chevalier de Borda (4 May 1733 – 19 February 1799) was a French mathematician, physicist, and Navy officer. Biography Borda was born in the city of Dax to Jean‐Antoine de Borda and Jeanne‐Marie Thérèse de Lacroix. In 17 ...

, the

Marquis de Condorcet Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal pu ...

, and

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

(''the American liberator''). He became member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands in 1808.

References

*
Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: A Historical Perspective
', edited by Richard Moody, E. Buffetaut, D. Naish, D. M. Martill on

*
Histoire naturelle de la montagne de Saint-Pierre de Maestricht
', by Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond on Google books {{DEFAULTSORT:Camper, Adriaan Gilles 1759 births 1820 deaths Scientists from Amsterdam Dutch paleontologists Academic staff of the University of Franeker Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences