Regius, Henricus – Philosophia naturalis, 1661 – BEIC 3881650

Henricus Regius (; July 29, 1598 – February 19, 1679) was a Dutch philosopher, physician, and professor of medicine at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

from 1638.

Biography

Regius was born in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, and was also known by his birth name, ''Hendrik de Roy'', or by its French rendering, ''Henri Le Roy''. He studied

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as La ...

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 ...

and medicine at

Groningen University The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is the ...

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city o ...

, and subsequently at the Universities of

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the department of Hérault. In 2018, 290,053 people l ...

and

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

. He was a vocal proponent of

Cartesianism Cartesianism is the philosophical and scientific system of René Descartes and its subsequent development by other seventeenth century thinkers, most notably François Poullain de la Barre, Nicolas Malebranche and Baruch Spinoza. Descartes is o ...

, and corresponded frequently with

René Descartes René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Ma ...

. He was the author of a textbook of natural philosophy, ''Fundamenta Physices''. He died in Utrecht.

References

External links

The Correspondence between Descartes and Henricus Regius
(in French, with commentary in English) *
The Mathematics Genealogy Project - Henricus Regius
1598 births 1679 deaths 17th-century Dutch physicians 17th-century Dutch philosophers Physicians from Utrecht (city) Utrecht University faculty {{philosopher-stub