NICOLAUS STENO
Nicolas Steno, Latinized to Nicolaus Steno , (born 11 January, 1638-died 25 November 1686) was a Danish pioneer in both anatomy and geology. His given name was Niels Stensen, but he is generally referred to by the Latinized version, Nicolas Steno. His name also has a variety of other spellings, such as Steensen, Stenonis (Latin), Stenone (Italian) and Stenon (French). Already in 1659 he decided not to accept anything simply written in a book, instead resolving to do research himself. He is considered the father of geology and stratigraphy. Steno was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987.
Nicolaus Steno was born in Copenhagen on New Year's Day ( According to Julian calendar). His father was a Lutheran goldsmith who worked regularly for King Christian IV of Denmark. Stensen grew up in isolation in his childhood, because of an unknown disease. In 1644 his father died, after which his mother remarried another goldsmith. In 1654-1655, 240 pupils of his school died because of the plague. Across the street lived Peder Schumacher, (who would offer Steno a post as professor in Copenhagen in 1671). After completing his university education, Steno set out to travel through Europe; in fact, he would be on the move for the rest of his life. In the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany he came into contact with prominent physicians and scientists. These influences led him to use his own powers of observation to make important scientific discoveries. At a time when scientific questions were mostly answered by appeal to ancient authorities, Steno was bold enough to trust his own eyes, even when his observations differed from traditional doctrines.
Young Nicolas
His principles assumed an original fluid state of rock and minerals, a theory which was aided by his knowledge of the biblical flood.
Although some try to suggest that his ideas conflicted with the scripture, not one of his principles does so, but helps give understanding what may have happened during the Biblical flood. His principles said nothing about absolute time. E.g. the principle of superposition does not state how long it takes for one rock to settle on another, or how long the process takes. It simply say the bottom layer was laid down first, and subsequent layers came after.
It is also important to remember that Steno was a Biblical geologist. His achievements were nurtured by his belief that the Bible records the true history—including geological history—of the world."
While a pupil of anatomy in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, he discovered the parotid salivary duct, which is also called Stensen's duct. He made a number of other anatomical discoveries, including that muscles were made of fibrils, and he showed that the pineal gland existed in animals other than man. This was notable because some considered the pineal gland the location of the human soul, an idea first proposed by Rene Descartes (1596–1650), and so had considered it a gland unique to humans. In 1665, Steno moved to Florence, Italy, where his medical skills got him appointed physician to Grand Duke Ferdinand II of Tuscany. After returning to the Netherlands he was made Royal Anatomist in Copenhagen in 1672.
Nicolas Steno, Latinized to Nicolaus Steno , (born 11 January, 1638-died 25 November 1686) was a Danish pioneer in both anatomy and geology. His given name was Niels Stensen, but he is generally referred to by the Latinized version, Nicolas Steno. His name also has a variety of other spellings, such as Steensen, Stenonis (Latin), Stenone (Italian) and Stenon (French). Already in 1659 he decided not to accept anything simply written in a book, instead resolving to do research himself. He is considered the father of geology and stratigraphy. Steno was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987.
Nicolaus Steno was born in Copenhagen on New Year's Day ( According to Julian calendar). His father was a Lutheran goldsmith who worked regularly for King Christian IV of Denmark. Stensen grew up in isolation in his childhood, because of an unknown disease. In 1644 his father died, after which his mother remarried another goldsmith. In 1654-1655, 240 pupils of his school died because of the plague. Across the street lived Peder Schumacher, (who would offer Steno a post as professor in Copenhagen in 1671). After completing his university education, Steno set out to travel through Europe; in fact, he would be on the move for the rest of his life. In the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany he came into contact with prominent physicians and scientists. These influences led him to use his own powers of observation to make important scientific discoveries. At a time when scientific questions were mostly answered by appeal to ancient authorities, Steno was bold enough to trust his own eyes, even when his observations differed from traditional doctrines.
Young Nicolas
His principles assumed an original fluid state of rock and minerals, a theory which was aided by his knowledge of the biblical flood.
Although some try to suggest that his ideas conflicted with the scripture, not one of his principles does so, but helps give understanding what may have happened during the Biblical flood. His principles said nothing about absolute time. E.g. the principle of superposition does not state how long it takes for one rock to settle on another, or how long the process takes. It simply say the bottom layer was laid down first, and subsequent layers came after.
It is also important to remember that Steno was a Biblical geologist. His achievements were nurtured by his belief that the Bible records the true history—including geological history—of the world."
While a pupil of anatomy in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, he discovered the parotid salivary duct, which is also called Stensen's duct. He made a number of other anatomical discoveries, including that muscles were made of fibrils, and he showed that the pineal gland existed in animals other than man. This was notable because some considered the pineal gland the location of the human soul, an idea first proposed by Rene Descartes (1596–1650), and so had considered it a gland unique to humans. In 1665, Steno moved to Florence, Italy, where his medical skills got him appointed physician to Grand Duke Ferdinand II of Tuscany. After returning to the Netherlands he was made Royal Anatomist in Copenhagen in 1672.
He also investigated the heart (finding it had two pumps), the brain, the muscles, and discovered the excretory duct of the parotid gland, also called the duct of Steno. He disproved that the duct had anything to do with human spirituality. His investigations into the anatomy of sharks helped him to realize that there were fossil shark teeth in layers of rock and that they got there by natural means rather than created in the rock, as was believed in the time. He also laid the foundations of the science of crystallography.
While in Italy, Steno was sent a huge shark's head that had been caught by local fishermen. While dissecting and studying it, Steno was struck by the similarity of the shark's teeth to common Mediterranean fossils known as 'tongue stones.' His study of these fossils led him to consider how any solid object could get inside another. In 1669, Steno published a short work that was to be an introduction to a larger study he never attempted, entitled De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus (A preliminary discourse on a solid body contained naturally within a solid).
To illustrate his ideas, Steno made some of the earliest sketches of geological sections, and formulated three important geological principles. First, Steno noted that it was possible to tell which had been solid first, the rock or the fossil, by noting which was impressed on the other. In this way, Steno showed that the rocks must have formed around the fossils, and he suggested that the rocks had solidified out of former seas. Additionally, Steno argued that such rock layers would have formed in horizontal layers, and that any changes to the original horizontality must have occurred after their creation. Finally, Steno concluded that the oldest layers of rock strata must be those on the bottom, and newer layers were superposed on top of them. From this, Steno developed a geological history of rock formation, becoming one of the founders of stratigraphy.
Because the 'tongue stones' left an impression on the encasing rocks, Steno argued they had existed before the rock. Because they resembled shark's teeth so closely, he concluded that they were most likely ancient shark's teeth. Steno argued that similar fossils also had an organic origin, which went against the popular beliefs that such 'stones' had fallen from the sky, had grown from the Earth, or had more mystical origins.
Steno had been raised a Lutheran, but in 1667, he converted to Catholicism. His faith caused him to abandon the study of science, and in 1677, he was appointed a titular bishop and spent the remainder of his days ministering to the few remaining Catholics in Northern Germany and Scandinavia.
Further Reading
The most comprehensive biography of Steno, including the translation of all his geological works, is in Steno: Geological Papers, edited by Gustav Scherz and translated by Alex J. Pollock (1969). Some biographical information on Steno is in Gustav Scherz, ed., Historical Symposium on Nicolaus Steno (1965). Other accounts of his life and contributions to geology are in Sir Archibald Geikie, The Founders of Geology (1897); Karl von Zittel, History of Geology and Palaeontology (1901); and Frank D. Adams, The Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences (1938).
