Laurentius Blumentrost (russian: Лаврентий Лаврентьевич Блументрост; 8 November 1692 – 14 June 1755) was a Russian Imperial state figure, the personal physician to the
Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
, founder and first president of the
St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
, from December 7, 1725, to June 6, 1733.
Biography
Blumentrost was born in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
on October 29 (
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
) or November 8, 1692 (
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
). His father,
Laurentius Blumentrost the Elder, a man of German origins, was personal physician to
Tsar Alexis
Aleksey Mikhaylovich ( rus, Алексе́й Миха́йлович, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ; – ) was the Tsar of Russia from 1645 until his death in 1676. While finding success in foreign affairs, his reign saw several wars ...
. Laurentius taught his son Latin and Greek, He later studied under
Justus Samuel Scharschmidt and at
Pastor Glück's Lutheran school in the German settlement in Moscow.
In 1706, he began to attend university at
Halle, then
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and finally
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
, where he studied under
Herman Boerhaave
Herman Boerhaave (, 31 December 1668 – 23 September 1738Underwood, E. Ashworth. "Boerhaave After Three Hundred Years." ''The British Medical Journal'' 4, no. 5634 (1968): 820–25. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20395297.) was a Dutch botanist, ...
,
defended his thesis, ''De secretione animali'', in 1713 and received a medical degree in 1714.
Court physician
On his return to Russia, Blumentrost was appointed personal physician to
Princess Natalia, Tsar Alexis's daughter and Tsar
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
's sister. He continued his studies in Paris and Amsterdam (with
Frederik Ruysch
Frederik Ruysch (; March 28, 1638 – February 22, 1731) was a Dutch botany, botanist and anatomy, anatomist. He is known for developing techniques for preserving anatomical specimens, which he used to create dioramas or scenes incorporating hum ...
, from whom he bought anatomical specimens on behalf of the Russian government for the
Kunstkamera
The Kunstkamera (russian: Кунсткамера) or Kunstkammer (German for "Culture Room" (literally) or "Art Chamber", typically used for a " cabinet of curiosities") is a public museum located on the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Pete ...
). After his return to
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Peter the Great sent him to the
Olonets Governorate
The Olonets Governorate or Government of Olonets was a '' guberniya'' (governorate) of north-western Imperial Russia, extending from Lake Ladoga almost to the White Sea, bounded west by Finland, north and east by Arkhangelsk and Vologda, and sou ...
to study the Marcial mineral springs in
Kondopozhsky District
Kondopozhsky District (russian: Кондопо́жский райо́н; krl, Kondupohjan piiri) is an administrative district (raion), one of fifteen in the Republic of Karelia, Russia.Constitution of the Republic of Karelia It is located in th ...
.
When
Robert Erskine
Robert Erskine (1735–1780) was a Scottish inventor and engineer who came to the British colonial Province of New Jersey in 1771 to run the ironworks at Ringwood, New Jersey. He subsequently became sympathetic to the movement for independenc ...
, the Tsar's Scottish-born personal physician, died in 1718, Blumentrost was appointed to the position. He kept
Johann Daniel Schumacher Johann Daniel Schumacher (Russian: Ива́н Дани́лович Шума́хер; German: Johann Daniel von Schumacher; 5 February 1690 – 14 June 1761) was the secretary of the Russian Academy of Sciences and director of the Library of the Russ ...
, Erskine's assistant who had studied at the
University of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers.
The French university traces its history to the ea ...
and had been in charge of the Imperial Library and the Kunstkamera under Erskine, on as his secretary.
Academy of Sciences
In 1724, on the Tsar's orders, he founded the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The first session was held after Peter's death, on November 12, 1725, and it opened officially in December with Blumentrost as its first president. Most of the members were recruited abroad; with the assistance of the philosopher
Christian Wolff, he successfully invited the Bernoulli brothers
Nicholas
Nicholas is a male given name and a surname.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglicanism, Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the n ...
and
Daniel
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...
,
Christian Goldbach
Christian Goldbach (; ; 18 March 1690 – 20 November 1764) was a German mathematician connected with some important research mainly in number theory; he also studied law and took an interest in and a role in the Russian court. After traveling ...
, physician
Georg Bilfinger, astronomer and geographer
Joseph De L’Isle and historian
Gerhard Müller, among others. In 1727
Leonhard Euler
Leonhard Euler ( , ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in ma ...
joined the academy at Blumentrost's invitation in a letter sent via Daniel Bernoulli.
He remained president of the academy under Empress
Catherine I
Catherine I ( rus, Екатери́на I Алексе́евна Миха́йлова, Yekaterína I Alekséyevna Mikháylova; born , ; – ) was the second wife and empress consort of Peter the Great, and Empress Regnant of Russia from 1725 un ...
; when she was succeeded by
Peter II, he followed the court to Moscow in 1728, after signing an order under which Schumacher was left in charge of the academy, with three academicians appointed to 4-month terms as his deputies. This led to discord among the members. After the Tsar's death, Blumentrost lost his influence.
Nicolaas Bidloo
Nicolaas Bidloo (c. 1673/74 – 23 March 1735) was a Dutch physician who served as the personal physician of Tsar Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great). Bidloo was the director of the first hospital in Russia as well as the first medical scho ...
did not approve of his treatment methods and he did not dare appear before the new Empress,
Anna
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
* Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773)
* Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century)
* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221)
...
. He remained president of the academy until 1733 and returned to St. Petersburg, where he lived in the palace of the Empress' sister,
Catherine Ivanovna
Tsarevna Catherine Ivanovna of Russia (20 October 1691 – 14 June 1733) was a daughter of Tsar Ivan V and Praskovia Saltykova, eldest sister of Empress Anna of Russia and niece of Peter the Great. By her marriage, she was a Duchess of Mecklenbu ...
, Duchess of
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...
.
Retirement and death
The Duchess of Mecklenburg died on June 14, 1733. The Empress ordered an investigation of Blumentrost; no fault was found on his part, but by 19 June he had been stripped of his positions and income and expelled from St. Petersburg. For a few years he lived in Moscow and had a private medical practice. In 1738, under the patronage of
archiater An archiater ( grc, ἀρχίατρος) was a chief physician of a monarch, who typically retained several. At the Roman imperial court, their chief held the high rank and specific title of ''Comes archiatrorum''.
The term has also been used of ch ...
Johann Bernhard Fischer, he became head physician at the Moscow military hospital and director of the hospital school. Empress Anna did not trust Blumentrost, mainly because of his devotion to the two daughters of Peter the Great and Catherine,
Anna
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
* Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773)
* Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century)
* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221)
...
and
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
. When Elizabeth became Empress, he came back into royal favour. She reinstated his rank of State Councillor and raised his salary. In 1754 he was appointed curator of the newly opened
University of Moscow
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
.
Blumentrost died in St. Petersburg on 27 March 1755 of
hydrothorax
Hydrothorax is a type of pleural effusion in which transudate accumulates in the pleural cavity. This condition is most likely to develop secondary to congestive heart failure, following an increase in hydrostatic pressure within the lungs. More r ...
. He is buried at the church of St. Sampson the Hospitable, now
Saint Sampson's Cathedral.
Blumentrost's brothers Ivan (Johannes Deodatus or Johann Deodat; 1676–1756)
and Christian were also court physicians. Ivan was also personal physician to Peter I (and his field physician and archiater) and had also studied in Halle and Leiden. He fell out of favour under Empress Anna and died in poverty in 1756; he is buried in the same grave with Laurentius.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blumentrost, Laurentius
Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
1692 births
1755 deaths
Physicians from Moscow
18th-century physicians from the Russian Empire