Pehr von Afzelius (14 December 1760,

Larv Larv is a village situated in Vara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 216 inhabitants in 2005. It was the birthplace of the botanist Adam Afzelius Adam Afzelius (8 October 175020 January 1837) was a Swedish botanist and an apo ...

– 2 December 1843 in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

, Sweden) was a Swedish medical doctor and professor in Uppsala. Afzelius was the brother of

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Adam Afzelius Adam Afzelius (8 October 175020 January 1837) was a Swedish botanist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Afzelius was born at Larv in Västergötland in 1750. He was appointed teacher of oriental languages at Uppsala University in 1777, and in 1785 ...

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

Johan Afzelius Johan Afzelius (13 June 1753 in Larv – 20 May 1837 in Uppsala) was a Swedish chemist and notable as the doctoral advisor of one of the founders of modern chemistry, Jöns Jacob Berzelius. He was the brother of botanist Adam Afzelius and physi ...

, and doctoral advisor of

Jacob Berzelius Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jac ...

. From 1777 to 1781 he studied at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

, and in February 1784 began a lengthy study trip, in which he visited several European universities, most notably in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. During the

Russo-Swedish War (1788–90) Wars between Russia and Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> ...

, he served in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

as a Life Guards regimental doctor. In 1801 he succeeded

Johan Gustaf Acrel Johan Gustaf Acrel (May 15, 1741 – February 18, 1801) was a Swedish physician and Professor of Medicine at Uppsala University. He was also briefly Rector Magnificus at the same university.

as professor of medicine at Uppsala, where he twice served as

university rector A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world the rector is often the most senior official in a un ...

(1805, 1816). In 1820 he resigned his professorship, but kept working at the university hospital up until July 1831.

Selected works

* ''In aneurysmata femoris observationes'', (with Adolph Murray) 1785. * ''Dissertationum medicarum lineæ primæ'', (with Jacob Betulin) 1801. * ''In reformandam pharmacopoeam Suecicam prolegomena'', (with Jacob Betulin) 1801. * ''Brevväxling mellan Christopher Carlander och Pehr Afzelius, 1789-1822'', (1991) – Correspondence between Christopher Carlander and Pehr Afzelius.Most widely held works by Pehr von Afzelius
WorldCat Identities

References

Swedish military doctors 1760 births 1843 deaths Uppsala University alumni Uppsala University faculty People from Vara Municipality Burials at Uppsala old cemetery 19th-century Swedish physicians {{Sweden-med-bio-stub