1561-1636

Italian Physician

Santorio Santorio (Latinized as Sanctorius, or Santorius), is primarily remembered as the inventor of the clinical thermometer and the author of De Statica Medicina (On Medical Measurement, 1614). Santorio attempted to introduce quantitative experimental methods into medical research. Santorio Santorio was born in Justinopolis (now Koper). His mother was from a noble family in that region, and his father, Antonio Santorio, was a nobleman in the service of the Venetian republic. Santorio began his education in Justinopolis and continued his studies in Venice. In 1575 he entered the University of Padua and earned his M.D. degree in 1582. He served as the personal physician of a nobleman in Croatia from 1587 until 1599 when he established his medical practice in Venice, where he became a friend of Galileo (1564-1642). He was appointed to the chair of theoretical medicine at the University of Padua in 1611. As a practicing...