Regnier de Graaf



Regnier de Graaf (July 30, 1641 – August 17, 1673); first name is often spelled Reinier or Reynier, was a Dutch physician and anatomist.

Graff was born in Schoonhoven, Netherlands. After studying medicine in Utrecht and Leiden, where he submitted his doctoral thesis on the pancreas, De Graaf went to France where he obtained his medical degree from the University of Angers. While in Paris, he also turned to the study of the male genitalia, which led to a publication in 1668. Back in the Netherlands in 1667, De Graaf established himself in Delft. Since he was a Catholic in a mainly Protestant country, he was unable to follow a university career. After the early death of a son, De Graaf died in 1673, at age 32, and was buried in the Oude Kerk in Delft. The reason for his death is unknown; recent speculation that he may have committed suicide is entirely unfounded. A few months before his death De Graaf recommended, as a member of the Royal Society in London, that attention be paid to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and his excellent microscopes.

De Graaf is famous for having realised the function of the ovarian follicle (which is named Graafian follicle in his honour, although others, including Fallopius, had noticed the follicles previously), described the anatomy of the testicles and collected secretions of the gall bladder and the pancreas.

One type of simple cyst, which is the most common type of ovarian cyst, is known as the graafian follicle cyst.

From the observation of pregnancy in rabbits, he concluded that inside a follicle an oocyte had to be present, although he never observed it. De Graaf also described the function of the Fallopian tubes and deduced the consequences of hydrosalpinx on fertility.