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173. - Steno, Nicolaus (1638–1686)

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Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2025

By
Piet Steenbakkers
Edited by
Karolina Hübner  and
Justin Steinberg
Karolina Hübner
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Justin Steinberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

Niels Stensen (latinized Nicolaus Steno) was born in Copenhagen on January 11, 1638. He died on December 5, 1686 in Schwerin. His fame rests on his pioneering scientific achievements and – more controversially – his conversion to Roman Catholicism. In both capacities, scientist and convert, Steno was connected with Spinoza. A pupil of the Danish physician and polymath Ole Borch, Steno was attracted by the flourishing of the New Philosophy and science in the Dutch Republic. In April 1660 he went to Amsterdam, and in July 1660 he matriculated at Leiden University. Ole Borch arrived there, too, in February 1661. Steno and Borch shared lodgings at three different addresses until May 1663 (Jorink 2018, 22–24). Spinoza is mentioned several times in the detailed diary that Borch kept. In his Leiden lodgings Steno carried out dissections, which attracted many visitors – among them Spinoza, who at that time lived in the nearby village of Rijnsburg.

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Chapter
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The Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon , pp. 499 - 500
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Recommended Reading

Andrault, R. (2019). Spinoza’s missing physiology. Perspectives on Science, 27(2), 214–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cristofolini, P. (2008). La lettera di Stensen: Un falso d’autore. Historia philosophica, 6, 141–44.Google Scholar
Jorink, E. (2018). Modus politicus vivendi: Nicolaus Steno and the Dutch (Swammerdam, Spinoza and Other Friends), 1660–1664. In Andrault, R. and Lærke, M. (eds.), Steno and the Philosophers (pp. 13–44). Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spruit, L., and Totaro, P. (eds). (2011). The Vatican Manuscript of Spinoza’s Ethica. Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Totaro, P. (2018). Steno in Italy: From Florence to Rome. In Andrault, R. and Lærke, M. (eds.), Steno and the Philosophers (pp. 270–87). Brill.Google Scholar

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