Danish geologist and anatomist

The son of a Copenhagen goldsmith, Nicolas Steno had a short but varied scientific career. 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).

Steno's early schooling was accomplished in Copenhagen until 1660, when he began to travel Europe to study abroad. 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...