Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738) a Leideni Egyetem professzora és Telekiné Bethlen Júlia

The topic of this study is the life and oeuvre of Hermann Boerhaave MD, the first famous polyhistor and professor of the 18th century at the Medical School of Leiden University. He was a descendant of a Calvinist priest family, had a multifarious career with an international reputation and among others he was in contact with Count Alexander Teleki and his wife, Countess Julia Bethlen, members of the higher aristocracy in Transylvania. Boerhaave treated, among his foreign patients, carefully and professionally also the young countess Julia who suffered from tuberculosis, and in his letters supported her by psychotherapy too. The couple Teleki-Bethlen enjoined an easy correspondence mediated by many Calvinist Transylvanian students at Leiden University. In this study, I used a number of contemporary letters and scientific German and English literature. In English research prof. Rina Knoeff’s NWO Vidi project (2012–2017, University of Groningen), and her e-mails and publications provided me with a significant support.