Joseph Romain Louis Kerckhoffs ( Nuth, 3 September 1789 –

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

, 10 October 1867) was a Dutch physician. He was a physician in

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's army and after 1815 chief physician of the Dutch military hospitals. Numerous publications have been published by him to promote (military) medicine and combat

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...

Biography

Kerckhoffs was born in

Grijzegrubben Grijzegrubben (; li, Griëzegröbbe ) is a hamlet in the municipality of Beekdaelen in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, the Netherlands. The name Grijzegrubben contains the Toponymy, toponym ''Grubbe'', which in Limburg often refe ...

, Nuth, as the son of Joannes Franciscus Carolus Kerckhoffs, alderman, mayor and surgeon in Nuth. After being homeschooled by the Jesuit /home teacher Ceurvorst, he left for

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

at the age of 16 to study law at the insistence of his parents, but Kerckhoffs chose to study medicine instead, obtaining his doctorate in 1811. On 23 January 1814 Kerckhoffs married Gregorine Chapuis in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

, with whom he had a son in 1817: Eugène. In the 1810s and 1820s he served in the French and Dutch armies. He lived the last years of his life with his son in Mechelen, where he died in 1867 at the age of 78.

Career as an army doctor

After achieving his doctoral degree in 1811, Kerckhoffs was assigned to the main headquarters of the French army and took part in the Napoleonic campaigns. In 1812 he was assigned to the Headquarters of the Third Army Corps commanded by Marshal Ney and in 1813–1814 at the headquarters of the Second Army Corps under Marshal Victor, Duke of Bellune. After the fall of Napoleon, the Prussian government offered him to become chief physician of the Prussian army, but Kerckhoffs decided in 1815 to enter the service of the Netherlands in the lower rank of physician 1st class as chief of the medical service of the military hospitals in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

, and in 1817 he was appointed officer of health and chief of the military hospitals in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. At his request,

King Willem I William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who we ...

dismissed him in 1823.

Physician and writer

After his career as an army doctor, Kerkchoffs focused more on health care for the underprivileged and writing medical articles. He opposed the closure of hospitals "because of the criminal economy" of King William I. At the invitation of Prince Frederik, he visited and worked in the

Society of Humanitarianism The Society of Humanitarianism ( nl, Maatschappij van Weldadigheid) was a Dutch private organization set up in 1818 by general Johannes van den Bosch to help poor families, mostly from the big cities, improve their lot in the aftermath of the N ...

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nov ...

, where he fought quackery and infectious diseases. During the cholera outbreak of 1832 in Antwerp, he mainly devoted himself to the needy class. The proceeds of his ''Memoirs de Cholera'' went to the poor.het boek wordt o.a. aangeprezen met de toevoeging “Se vend au profit des Pauvres en raison de f 2,50” (wordt verkocht ten behoeve van de armen voor f. 2,50)

Personal life

He was the uncle of fellow Nuth native cryptographer

Auguste Kerckhoffs Auguste Kerckhoffs (19 January 1835 – 9 August 1903) was a Dutch linguistics, linguist and cryptographer in the late 19th century. Biography Kerckhoffs was born in Nuth, the Netherlands, as Jean Guillaume Auguste Victor François Huber ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerckhoffs, Joseph 1789 births 1867 deaths People from Nuth 19th-century Dutch physicians