Caspar Bartholin the Elder (; 12 February 1585 – 13 July 1629) was a Danish physician, scientist and theologian. Biography Caspar Berthelsen Bartholin was born at Malmø, Denmark (modern Sweden). His precocity was extraordinary; at three years of age he was able to read, and in his thirteenth year he composed Greek and Latin orations and delivered them in public. When he was about eighteen he went to the University of Copenhagen and afterwards studied at Rostock and Wittenberg. He then travelled through Germany, the Netherlands, England, France and Italy, and was received with marked respect at the different universities he visited. In 1613 he was chosen professor of medicine in the University of Copenhagen and filled that office for eleven years, when, falling into a dangerous illness, he made a vow that if he should recover he would apply himself solely to the study of divinity. He later taught theology at the university and was a canon of Roskilde. His work, Anatomicae Institutiones Corporis Humani (1611) was for many years a standard textbook on the subject of anatomy. He was the first to describe the workings of the olfactory nerve. Personal life He was married to Anna Fincke, daughter of the mathematician Thomas Fincke. Of his sons, Bertel Bartholin (1614–1690), Thomas Bartholin (1616–1680) and Rasmus Bartholin (1625–1698) were also noted scholars. His grandson Caspar Bartholin the Younger (1655–1738) was a noted anatomist. He died on 13 July 1629 at Sorø in Zealand. Works Anatomicae Institutiones Corporis Humani (1611) References Other sources 1585 births 1629 deaths Danish scientists 17th-century Danish physicians 17th-century Danish scientists Danish Protestant theologians Danish anatomists History of anatomy Medical educators People from Malmö Textbook writers University of Copenhagen alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen University of Rostock alumni 17th-century Protestant theologians Rectors of the University of Copenhagen Bartholin family