Théodore Tronchin
Théodore Tronchin (* June 24, 1709 in Geneva, Edinburgh, † November 30, 1781 in Paris) was a Franco- Swiss physician.
Life and work
His family was descended from Tronchin Remi ( 1539-1609 ). The Tronchin represent an ancient family from the southern French town of Arles. That Remi Tronchin was a Huguenot and officer in the service of the French King Henri IV, whose reign lasted from 1589 until his assassination in 1610. His wife was Sara Morin hosier ( 1558-1623 ). One of her many children was Daniel Tronchin (1584-1655), a priest. From the Daniels line Tronchin Du Breuil emerged, who settled in the Netherlands, where from 1690 to 1796 the Gazette d' Amsterdam possessed. Another brother Théodore Tronchin (1582-1657), Député au de Synod of Dordrecht was the great-grandfather of Jean -Robert Tronchin (1670-1730) and the father of Antoine Tronchin (* 1630). Antoine Tronchin was just his hand, the father of Jean -Robert Tronchin (1670-1730) and thus the grandfather of the future physician Théodore Tronchin.
The Tronchin family sought at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day ( 23 August 24, 1572) refuge in Geneva. The father of Théodore Tronchin, Jean -Robert Tronchin (1670-1730) was one of the richest bankers in Geneva and Lyon, also he was a member of the Council of Two Hundred in Geneva, Membre du Conseil des Deux -Cents. His mother was Angélique Calandrini (1692-1715), originally from Italy, and died young.
Born in Geneva, studied medicine at the University of Cambridge, attended lectures by Richard Mead (1673-1754), the personal physician to George II, but then moved to the University of Leiden, where he was a student of Herman Boerhaave. In 1730 he received his Doctor of Medicine for work in the field of gynecology, Theme of dissertation: Dissertatio medica inauguralis, de Nymphae. Leyden (1730; German: About the labia minora pudendi ). As a result, he practiced as a physician in Amsterdam, but also took over as president of the Royal College of Physicians of London and as an inspector of hospitals public tasks. He married a granddaughter of the Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt ( 1625-1672 ).
In the early 1750s he returned back to Geneva, received the title of Honorary Professor of Medicine there, and moved to Paris, where he opened a medical practice in 1766 later.
He counted among his friends known men and women from philosophy and literature, especially those of the French Enlightenment, such as Voltaire, his compatriot Rousseau, Diderot, etc. A real friendship united him with Mme d' Epinay and Friedrich Melchior Grimm. He wrote the article innoculation for Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie ( 1751-1772 ).
Tronchin was an influential physician of the 18th century, its popularity became widespread among European royalty and the upper classes. In 1762 Tronchin was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1779 and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Works (selection)
- De Nymphae. 1736
- De clitoride. Leyde 1736
- De cólica pictorum. Genève 1757
- Treatise of the colic of Poitou. In: Collected writings on important knowledge and treatment of Bleykolik. Leipzig 1784, digitized version of the SLUB Dresden via EOD
- In Diderot 's Encyclopédie (1751-1772) he wrote the section " innoculation "