Daniel de Superville (

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, 2 December 1696 – Rotterdam, 16 November 1773) was a Dutch physician who in 1742 founded the

University of Erlangen A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

in Germany. He served as chancellor of the university until 1748. De Superville also wrote several treatises on

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

. Daniel de Superville came from a family of French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

s who had fled to the Netherlands from

Saumur Saumur () is a Communes of France, commune in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department in western France. The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgu ...

. He was the third son of merchant Jacques (Jacob) de Superville and Marguérite Vettekeuken. His uncle was the

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

theologian Daniel de Superville (1657-1728). He enrolled at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

in 1719, having already gained his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

a year earlier at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of 39,769 students, a ...

with a dissertation entitled ''Dissertatio de sanguine et sanguificatione''. In 1722 he married Catharina Elisabeth le Comte in Leiden, and on 21 June that year the couple left for

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, where de Superville found employment as a lecturer of anatomy and

surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

. After managing to cure King Frederick Wilhelm I of Prussia of

edema Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue (biology), tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. S ...

(dropsy), Daniel de Superville in 1738 secured a position as the personal physician of

Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia (Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine; 3 July 170914 October 1758) was a Prussian princess and composer. She was the eldest daughter of Frederick William I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, and a granddaughter of Geo ...

, sister of Frederick II. Superville soon became a highly influential advisor at the court of Wilhelmina and her husband,

Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth Frederick (Friedrich) Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (10 May 1711 in Weferlingen – 26 February 1763 in Bayreuth), was a member of the House of Hohenzollern and Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. He was the eldest son of Georg Frederick K ...

. He was admitted to the German imperial academy of sciences in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1739 and elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1741. At the initiative of Frederick and Wilhelmina, he founded a Protestant university in

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

in 1743. Superville was appointed as the first ''rector magnificus'' of the university. When the university was relocated to

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

one year later, Frederick of Brandenburg-Bayreuth appointed himself ''rector magnificus'' but kept de Superville on as chancellor. Today, the

is the second largest university in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. De Superville remained head of the university until 1748, when he returned – via Bremen - to

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

. From 1754 he managed the

Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum The Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum (HAUM) is an art museum in the German city of Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. History Founded in 1754, the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum is one of the oldest museums in Europe. The museum has its origins in the art and nat ...

and bought several times coins in the Netherlands. In 1761 he settled in

Voorburg Voorburg () is a town and former municipality in the west part of the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Together with the town Leidschendam and the village Stompwijk, it merged into the municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg in 2002. Sit ...

, near The Hague. In 1770, he remarried after the death of his first wife. Finally, he returned to his birthplace of Rotterdam, where he died at the age of 77. De Superville was buried at the

Vrouwekerk The Vrouwekerk ("Lady's Church") or Vrouwenkerk ("Ladies' Church"), originally known as the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk ("Church of Our Lady"), was a 14th-century church in the Dutch city of Leiden. In the early 17th century, the church was attended by t ...

in Leiden (demolished in 1819), which at that time served as

Walloon church A Walloon church (French: ''Église Wallonne''; Dutch: ''Waalse kerk'') describes any Calvinist church in the Netherlands and its former colonies whose members originally came from the Southern Netherlands (what is now Belgium) and northern Franc ...

Sources

Kees Vellenga, "In het voetspoor van Röntgen 2008", Historische Commissie van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Radiologie
(Dutch)

(German)

(Dutch) * ttp://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Superville,_Daniel_von "Superville, Daniel von" in: ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'', 1908(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Superville, Daniel De 1696 births 1773 deaths 18th-century Dutch physicians Physicians from Rotterdam Academic staff of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Fellows of the Royal Society Dutch people of French descent