Olaus Rudbeck

Olaus Rudbeck (1630 to 1702), also known as Olof Rudbeck the Elder, was a Swedish scientist and writer, professor of medicine at Uppsala University and for several periods its rector magnificus. Born in Vasteras, the son of Bishop Johannes Rudbeckius and father of the botanist Olof Rudbeck the Younger, he is known mainly for human anatomy and linguistics, and was also accomplished in music and botany. He was one of the pioneers in the study of lymphatic vessels and showed his findings at the court of Queen Christina in the spring of 1652, though he published only after Thomas Bartholin had described a similar discovery. Appointed professor of medicine in 1660, he built an anatomical theatre on top of the Gustavianum at Uppsala, and he established the first botanical garden in Sweden. Between 1679 and 1702 he wrote Atlantica, a four-volume treatise of some 3,000 pages that purported to prove that Sweden was Atlantis.