Nicolas Steno

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Danish anatomist and geologist (1638–1686)

The son of a goldsmith, Steno was educated in his native city of Copenhagen before beginning his travels and studies abroad in 1660. While studying anatomy in Amsterdam he discovered the parotid salivary duct, also called Stensen's duct after the Danish form of his name. Other important anatomical findings included his realization that muscles are composed of fibrils and his demonstration that the pineal gland exists in animals other than man. (René Descartes had considered the pineal gland the location of the soul, believing that both were found only in man.)

Steno obtained his medical degree from Leiden in 1664 and the following year went to Florence, where he became physician to the grand duke Ferdinand II. In the field of geology he made important contributions to the study of crystals and fossils. His observations on quartz crystals showed that, though the crystals differ greatly in physical appearance, they all have the same angles between corresponding faces. This led to the formulation of Steno's law, which states that the angles between two corresponding faces on the crystals of any chemical or mineral species are constant and characteristic of the species. It is now known that this is a consequence of the internal regular ordered arrangement of the atoms or molecules.

Steno's geological and mineralogical views were expressed in his De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus (1669; An Introductory Discourse on a Solid Body Contained Naturally Within a Solid). The curious title refers to the solid bodies we refer to as fossils found in other solid bodies. Steno was particularly concerned with the common Mediterranean fossils known at the time as ‘glossipetrae’ (tongue stones), thought by some to have fallen from the sky and by others to have grown in the earth like plants. They were triangular, flat, hard, and with discernible crenellations along two sides.

In 1666 Steno was presented with the head of a giant shark. He was immediately struck by the close similarity between the glossipetrae and sharks' teeth. In attempting to understand this correlation Steno formulated two important principles to explain how solids form in solids. By the first, an ordering rule, it proved possible to tell which solidified first by noting which solid was impressed on the other. As glossipetrae left their imprint in the surrounding rocks they must have been formed first. Therefore it made no sense to suppose that they grew in the strata.

Steno's second rule proclaimed that if two solids were similar in all observed respects then they were likely to have been produced in the same way. It followed that the similarity between the glossipetrae and sharks' teeth revealed them as fossilized teeth, a revolutionary claim at the time. But Steno's rules offered more than an explanation of glossipetrae; they in fact offered a novel way of interpreting the fossil record, one which would be followed increasingly by later geologists.

Steno was brought up a Lutheran but converted to Catholicism in 1667, taking holy orders in 1675. In 1677 he was appointed Titular Bishop of Titopolis (in Turkey), catering for the spiritual needs of the few Catholics surviving in Scandinavia and Northern Germany.

The Danish naturalist Nicolaus Steno (1638-1686) established the law of superposition and the law of constancy of interfacial angles.

Nicolaus Steno, originally Niels Stensen, the son of a goldsmith, was born in Copenhagen on Jan. 10, 1638. He entered the University of Copenhagen in 1656 to begin studies in medicine which he continued in Amsterdam and Leiden. After studying anatomy in Paris in 1664, he went to Florence in 1665. He became court physician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand II, who subsidized Steno's scientific interests.

During this period Steno investigated the geology of Tuscany with its related mineralogical and paleontological problems. His De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus (1669; Introduction to a Dissertation concerning a Solid Body Enclosed by Process of Nature within a Solid) was one of the most fundamental contributions to geology because of Steno's qualities of observation, analysis, and inductive reasoning at a time when scientific research was nothing but metaphysical speculation. Contrary to many other works of the 17th century, it had an impact on contemporary scientists through three Latin editions and its translation into English by Henry Oldenburg in 1671.

The Prodromusis divided into four parts. The first contains an investigation on the origin of fossils. The second part analyzes the following fundamental problem: "given a substance having a certain shape, and formed according to the laws of nature, how to find in the substance itself evidences disclosing the place and manner of its production." The third part discusses different solids contained within a solid in relation to the laws discovered and presented in the previous part. This is the section dealing mostly with crystallography. The fourth part is largely a consideration of the geological changes which Steno was able to interpret from his observations throughout Tuscany.

A fundamental part of Prodromus concerns the aspects and the mechanism of the growth of crystals, which are also solids within solids. In that respect Steno discovered the fundamental law of crystallography known as the "law of constancy of interfacial angles," which states that regardless of the variations in shape or size of the faces of a crystal, the interfacial angles remain constant. At the end of Prodromus, Steno in a series of diagrams illustrates the geological history of Tuscany. These sections, the earliest of their type ever prepared, fully substantiate the claim that Steno is one of the founders of stratigraphy and historical geology and perhaps the first geologist in the modern sense.

Steno, in his general concept of the universe, adopted the doctrine of the four Aristotelian elements: fire, earth, air, and water. However, his concept of matter was Cartesian, since he considered a natural body as an aggregate of imperceptible particles subject to the action of forces as generated by a magnet, fire, and sometimes light.

In paleontology, Steno clearly understood the organic origin of fossils and their importance as indicators of different environments of deposition. Assuming that strata had been deposited in the form of sediments from turbid waters under the action of gravity, Steno established some of the fundamental principles of stratigraphy: deposition of each bed upon a solid substratum, superposition of younger strata over older ones, and occurrence of all beds except the basal one between two essentially horizontal planes. In structural geology, Steno visualized three types of mountains: mountains formed by faults, mountains due to the effects of erosion by running waters, and volcanic mountains formed by eruptions of subterranean fires.

In 1672 Steno became professor of anatomy in Copenhagen. As a Catholic, he encountered so much religious intolerance from the Protestant community that he returned to Florence, where he was put in charge of the education of Cosimo III, the son of the Grand Duke. In 1675 Steno took Holy Orders, and a year later Pope Innocent XI appointed him bishop of Titopolis and apostolic vicar of northern Germany and Scandinavia. He died in Schwerin on Nov. 26, 1686.

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).

Additional Sources

Moe, Harald, Nicolaus Steno: an illustrated biography: his tireless pursuit of knowledge, his genius, his quest for the absolute, Copenhagen: Rhodos, 1994.

Scherz, Gustav, Niels Steensen (Nicolaus Steno), 1638-1686: the goldsmith's son from Copenhagen who won world fame as a pioneering natural scientist but who sacrificed science to become a celebrated servant of God, Copenhagen: Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1988.

Steno, Nicolaus (Niels Stensen; 1638–1686), Danish anatomist, paleontologist, and geologist. Born 11 January 1638 to a Copenhagen goldsmith, Steno attended the University of Copenhagen from 1656 to 1660, where he studied medicine and anatomy with Thomas and Erasmus Bartholin. Moving on to Amsterdam and Leiden from 1660 to 1664, he made several important discoveries concerning glands, which were a new field of investigation. Inspired by René Descartes's Treatise on Man (published posthumously in Leiden in 1662), Steno began studying the physiology of the heart, and he came to argue, against both Descartes and William Harvey, that the heart was not a specially endowed organ but merely a muscle. Failing to secure a position at the University of Copenhagen, Steno traveled to Paris, came under the patronage of Melchisedec Thevenot, and continued his anatomical studies. He gave a lecture on the brain in 1665 in which he took further issue with Descartes's theories of brain function, and he argued that ideas about brain physiology should be grounded in the results of detailed dissection. This lecture was published four years later as Discourse on the Anatomy of the Brain and was the most influential of his anatomical works.

Continuing his slow journey south, Steno spent some time in Montpelier in 1665, and in 1666 he arrived at Pisa and the summer court of the Medici family of Florence. He was invited to join the circle of the Accademia del Cimento, and he readied for publication a study of muscle anatomy. His career abruptly changed course when he was given the head of a giant white shark to dissect by the grand duke, Ferdinand II. Steno was indeed interested in the muscle anatomy of the shark, but he was even more fascinated by its teeth, which closely resembled the fossil objects known as glossopetra or tonguestones. Tonguestones, and nearly all other fossils, were commonly regarded as mineral objects that grew in the rocks where they were found and were not thought to have an organic origin. Steno considered the problem and offered compelling reasons why tonguestones must have once been sharks' teeth. When he published his Elements of Myology in 1667, he appended to it a short treatise, "The Dissection of the Head of a Shark." This essay marks the beginning of the science of paleontology.

Steno then addressed the more general problem of ascertaining the history of rock formations by examining the clues within them. He formulated principles by which he could determine if formations had been moved or altered after they had been laid down and which formations had been deposited first. Within eighteen months, he had completed his major geological treatise, Prodromus to a Dissertation on Solids Naturally Contained Within Solids. Steno argued here that rock strata are like the pages in a book of history, and that proper understanding of the principles of stratigraphy will allow that book to be read. The Prodromus marks the beginning of historical geology.

Steno resumed his travels in 1668, touring much of central Europe; he returned to Florence in 1670 for two years and then was invited back to Copenhagen in 1672, where he was royal anatomist until 1674. But his interest in anatomy had been waning for some time. Steno had converted to Catholicism in 1667, and he gradually turned his attention to religious and churchly matters. He returned to Florence in 1675 to be ordained a priest; in 1677 he was appointed apostolic vicar of the northern missions (Germany), and shortly thereafter became the titular bishop of Titiopolis. He spent the last nine years of his life in Hanover, Münster, and Hamburg, trying to bring the followers of Luther back into the Catholic Church. He died on 5 December 1686 in Schwerin. The grand duke of Florence, Cosimo III de' Medici, had Steno's body brought back to Florence, where he was buried in the cathedral of San Lorenzo. About three hundred years later, on 23 October 1988, Steno was beatified by Pope John Paul II.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Steno, Nicolaus. Discours sur l'anatomie du cerveau. Paris, 1669.

——. Elementorum Myologiae Specimen . . . cui Accedunt Canis Carchariae Dissectum Caput. Florence, 1667.

——. De Musculis & Glandulis Observationum Specimen. Paris, 1664.

——. De Solido Intra Solidum Naturaliter Contento Dissertationis Prodromus. Florence, 1669.

——. Steno: Geological Papers. Edited by Gustav Scherz. Translated by Alex J. Pollock. Odense, 1969.

Secondary Sources

Kardel, Troels. Steno: Life, Science, Philosophy. Copenhagen, 1994.

Scherz, Gustav, ed. Dissertations on Steno as Geologist. Odense, 1971.

——. Nicolaus Steno and His Indice. Copenhagen, 1958.

—WILLIAM B. ASHWORTH, JR.

Nicolas Steno
Nicolas Steno
Born	11 January 1638 Copenhagen
Died	25 November 1686 (aged 48)
Nationality	Danish
Fields	anatomy and geology
Religious stance	Roman Catholicism (converted from Lutheranism)[1]

Nicolas Steno (Danish: Niels Stensen; latinized to Nicolaus Stenonis, Italian Niccolo' Stenone) (11 January 1638 - 25 November 1686) was a Danish pioneer in both anatomy and geology. Already in 1659 he decided not to accept anything simply written in a book, instead resolving to do research himself.^[2] He is considered the father of geology and stratigraphy.^[1]

Contents 1 Early career 2 Contributions to paleontology and geology 3 Religious studies 4 Legacy 5 Notes 6 Major works 7 References 8 External links

Early career

Nicolas Steno was born in Copenhagen on New Year's Day (Julian calendar), as a son of a Lutheran goldsmith, regularly working for the king, Christian IV of Denmark. Stensen grew up in isolation in his childhood, because of an unknown disease. In 1644 his father died, his mother remarried to 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, he 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.

On instigation of Thomas Bartholin Steno first travelled to Rostock, then to Amsterdam and studied anatomy under Gerard Blasius, focusing again on the Lymphatic system. Steno discovered a previously undescribed structure, the "ductus stenonianus" (the duct of the parotid salivary gland) in sheep, dog and rabbit heads. A dispute with Blasius over credit for the discovery arose, but Steno's name is associated with this structure.^[3] Within a few months Steno moved to Leiden. There Steno met the students Jan Swammerdam, Frederik Ruysch, Reinier de Graaf, Franciscus de le Boe Sylvius, a famous professor, and Baruch Spinoza.^[4] Also Descartes was publishing on the working of the brain, and Steno did not think his explanation of the origin of tears was correct. Steno studied the heart, and found out it was an ordinary muscle.

He travelled to Saumur were he met Melchisédech Thévenot and Ole Borch. Steno travelled to Montpellier, where he met Martin Lister and William Croone, who introduced his work to the Royal Society. In Pisa he met the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who supported arts and science. Steno was invited to live in the Palazzo Vecchio, in return he had to gather a Cabinet of curiosities. Steno first went to Rome and met Alexander VII and Marcello Malpighi. As an anatomist in the hospital Steno focused on the muscular system and the nature of muscle contraction. He also became a member of Accademia del Cimento in Florence. Like Vincenzio Viviani Steno used geometry to show that a contracting muscle changes its shape but not its volume.

Contributions to paleontology and geology

Illustration from Steno's 1667 paper comparing the teeth of a shark head with a fossil tooth

In October 1666 two fishermen caught a huge female shark near the town of Livorno, and Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, ordered its head to be sent to Steno. Steno dissected the head and published his findings in 1667. He noted that the shark's teeth bore a striking resemblance to certain stony objects, found embedded within rock formations, that his learned contemporaries were calling glossopetrae or "tongue stones". Ancient authorities, such as the Roman author Pliny the Elder, in his Naturalis Historiae, had suggested that these stones fell from the sky or from the moon. Others were of the opinion, also following ancient authors, that fossils naturally grew in the rocks. Steno's contemporary Athanasius Kircher, for example, attributed fossils to a "lapidifying virtue diffused through the whole body of the geocosm", consided an inherent characteristic of the earth — an Aristotelian approach. Fabio Colonna, however, had already shown in a convincing way that glossopetrae are shark teeth^[5], in his treaty De glossopetris dissertatio published in 1616^[6]. Steno added to Colonna's theory a discussion on the differences in composition between glossopetrae and living sharks' teeth, arguing that the chemical composition of fossils could be altered without changing their form, using the contemporary corpuscular theory of matter.

Steno's work on shark teeth led him to the question of how any solid object could come to be found inside another solid object, such as a rock or a layer of rock. The "solid bodies within solids" that attracted Steno's interest included not only fossils, as we would define them today, but minerals, crystals, encrustations, veins, and even entire rock layers or strata. He published his geologic studies in De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus, or Preliminary discourse to a dissertation on a solid body naturally contained within a solid in 1669. Steno was not the first to identify fossils as being from living organisms; his contemporaries Robert Hooke and John Ray also argued that fossils were the remains of once-living organisms.

Quartz crystal showing transparency.

Steno, in his Dissertationis prodromus of 1669 is credited with three of the defining principles of the science of stratigraphy: the law of superposition: "...at the time when any given stratum was being formed, all the matter resting upon it was fluid, and, therefore, at the time when the lower stratum was being formed, none of the upper strata existed"; the principle of original horizontality: "Strata either perpendicular to the horizon or inclined to the horizon were at one time parallel to the horizon"; the principle of lateral continuity: "Material forming any stratum were continuous over the surface of the Earth unless some other solid bodies stood in the way"; and the principle of cross-cutting discontinuities: "If a body or discontinuity cuts across a stratum, it must have formed after that stratum."^[7] These principles were applied and extended in 1772 by Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle. Steno's landmark theory that the fossil record was a chronology of different living creatures in different eras was a sine qua non for Darwin's theory of natural selection.

Another principle, known simply as Steno's law, or Steno's law of constant angles, states that the angles between corresponding faces on crystals are the same for all specimens of the same mineral, a fundamental breakthrough that formed the basis of all subsequent inquiries into crystal structure.^[8]

Religious studies

Steno's questioning mind also influenced his religious views. Having been brought up in the Lutheran faith, he nevertheless questioned its teachings, something which became a burning issue when confronted with Roman Catholicism while studying in Florence. After making comparative theological studies, including reading the Church Fathers and by using his natural observational skills, he decided that Catholicism, rather than Lutheranism, provided more sustenance for his constant inquisitiveness. Steno converted to Catholicism on All Souls' Day when Lavinia Cenami Arnolfini insisted.

Steno travelled to Hungary, Austria and in Spring 1670 he arrived in Amsterdam. There he met with old friends Jan Swammerdam, Reinier de Graaf. With Anna Maria van Schurman and Antoinette Bourignon he discussed scientific and religious topics. The following quote is from a speech, in 1673:

Fair is what we see, Fairer what we have perceived, Fairest what is still in veil ^[9]

It is not sure if he met Nicolaes Witsen, but he did read his book on shipbuilding. In 1671 he accepted a post in Copenhagen, but promised Cosimo III de' Medici he would return when he was appointed tutor to Ferdinando III de' Medici. In 1675 Steno was back in Florence and ordained a priest. Athanasius Kircher expressly asked what the reason was. Steno had left science and became one of the leading figures in the Counter-Reformation.

In the year after he was made bishop, and probably involved in the banning of publications by Spinoza,^[10] he came to a mission in Lutheran North on an invitation by John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. There he had talks with Gottfried Leibniz, the librarian; the two argued about Spinoza and his letter to Albert Burgh, then Steno's pupil.^[11] Leibniz recommended a reunification of the churches. Steno worked at the city of Hannover until 1680. He then accepted a position in Münster (Church Saint Liudger) as the new prince-elector Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover was a Protestant. Earlier, his wife Sophia of Hanover had made fun of Steno's piousness. He sold his bishop's ring and cross to help the needy.

In 1684 Steno moved to Hamburg, after an argument about the election of the new bishop, Maximilian Henry of Bavaria. There Steno became involved again in the brain and the nerve system by an old friend Dirck Kerckring. Steno was invited to Schwerin, when it became clear he was not accepted in Hamburg. Steno dressed like a poor man in an old cloak. He drove in an open carriage in snow and rain. Living four days a week on bread on beer he became emaciated.^[12] When Steno had fulfilled his mission, some years of difficult tasks, he wanted to go back to Italy. Before he could return, Steno became severely ill, his belly swelling day by day. Steno died after much suffering. His corpse was shipped by Kerckring to Florence and buried in the Basilica of San Lorenzo close to his protectors, the De' Medici family. In 1953 his grave was discovered, and the corpse (without the missing skull) was reburied after a procession through the streets of the city.^[13]

Legacy

Steno's life and work has been studied, in particular in relation to the developments in geology in the late nineteenth century. His piety and virtue have been especially evaluated with a view to an eventual canonization. In 1953 his corpse was exhumed, and reburied in the Capella Stenoniana, but without the missing skull. The Italian state donated a fourth-century Christian sarcophagus that had been found in the river Arno. In 1987, he was declared "beatus" - the first step to being declared a saint - by Pope John Paul II. He is thus now called by Catholics Blessed Nicolas Steno.

• The Steno Museum in Århus, Denmark, named after Nicolas Steno, holds exhibitions on the history of science and medicine.^[14] It also operates a planetarium and a medicinal herb garden.
• Impact craters on Mars and the Moon are named in his honor.
• In 1950 the "Niels Steensens Gymnasium", the only Catholic preparatory school in Scandinavia, was founded on a Jesuit monastery in Copenhagen.
• Steno Diabetes Center, a research and teaching hospital dedicated to diabetes in Gentofte, Denmark, was named after Nicolas Steno.
• The Istituto Niels Stensen was founded in 1964 in Florence, Italy. Administered by the Jesuit Order, it is dedicated to his memory.
• A private college (secondary school) in Denmark is named Niels Steensen gymnasium.
• A private catholic college preparatory school in Germany is named Niels Stensen gymnasium.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Woods, Thomas. How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, p 4 & 96. (Washington, DC: Regenery, 2005); ISBN 0-89526-038-7.
2. ^ Kooymans, L. (2007) Gevaarlijke kennis. Inzicht en angst in de dagen van Jan Swammerdam. Information from Steno's diary, called Chaos, written around 1659, and discovered in 1946 in a library in Florence
3. ^ Kermit, Hans (2003), Niels Stensen, 1638-1686: The Scientist Who Was Beatified, Leominster, UK: Gracewing, pp. 82–83, ISBN 0852445830, http://books.google.com/books?id=6al2BH438AYC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=ductus+stenonianus&source=web&ots=a-cf8orz_l&sig=0n6udDkvILINP77o8SVbmAlDE8s#PPA82,M1, retrieved 2008-02-18 
4. ^ L. Kooymans (2004) De Doodskunstenaar. De anatomische lessen van Frederik Ruysch, p. 53.
5. ^ internet site of Centro dei Musei di Scienze Naturali, university of Naples retrieved 10 december 2007
6. ^ Francesco Abbona, Geologia, Dizionario Interdisciplinare di Scienza e Fede, Urbaniana University Press - Città Nuova Editrice, Roma 2002, http://www.disf.org/Voci/4.asp online article retrieved 10 december 2007. Colonna had been schooled in the collection of Ferrante Imperato, apothecary and virtuoso of Naples, who published his natural history notes in 1599.
7. ^ Paul Eric Olsen , Columbia University
8. ^ Stephen A. Nelson, (Tulane U.) "Introduction to Earth Materials"
9. ^ Pulchra sunt, quae videntur pulchriora quae sciuntur longe pulcherrima quae ignorantur. From a speech in 1673 for the Copenhagen Anatomical Theatre.
10. ^ Israel, J.I. (2001) Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, p. 251, 316.
11. ^ http://www.skepticfiles.org/atheist/spinozad.htm.
12. ^ On the other days there were never more than four courses plus a desert, even though noblemen from the court often dined with him.
13. ^ http://himetop.wikidot.com/niels-stensen-chapel-in-san-lorenzo
14. ^ http://www.stenomuseet.dk/engelsk/mellem.htm.

Major works

• Anatomical Observations (1662)
• Concerning Solids naturally contained within solids (1669)
• Elementary Mylogical Specimens (1669)
• Discours de Monsieur Stenon sur L'Anatomie du Cerveau ("M. Steno's lecture on the anatomy of the brain", Paris 1669)

References

• The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius Who Discovered a New History of the Earth by Alan Cutler, 2003 ISBN 0-525-94708-6
• Blessed Nicholas Steno (1638-1686). Natural-History Research and Science of the Cross by Frank Sobiech, in: Australian EJournal of Theology, August 2005, Issue 5, ISSN 1448-632 (http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/ejournal/aejt_5/Sobiech.htm)
• The Revolution in Geology from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment (GSA Memoir 203) by Gary D. Rosenberg (editor), 2009 ISBN 978-0-8137-1203-1

(10 articles on Steno, cf. http://www.gsajournals.org/perlserv/?SESSID=8547475e4f608c5280fc475816fd4488&request=get-specialpub-toc&isbn=978-0-8137-1203-1)

• Steno article at UC Berkeley
• Niels Stensen

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nicolaus Steno

• Catholic appointments
•  "Nicolaus Steno". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Nicolaus_Steno. 
• Niels Stensen (in German)
• The principles of Niels Stensen
• Website on Niels Stensen
• The Danish Embassy on Steensen
• Stenos memories in Florence

Persondata
NAME	Steno, Nicolas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Stensen, Niels (Danish); Stenonis, Nicolaus (Latinized)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Pioneer in anatomy and in geology
DATE OF BIRTH	January 10, 1638
PLACE OF BIRTH	Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH	November 25, 1686
PLACE OF DEATH	Schwerin

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