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ePaper created 2014-09-15, 12:31:02 | version 1.32.01
Reinier de Graaf Reinier de Graaf (1641-1673) became famous for his research in the male (1668) and female reproductive organs (1672), in which he relegated to the realm of fiction the old Aristotelian notion that females play a passive role in reproduction. His “De mulierum organis generationi inservientibus” provided an remarkable description of the ovaries - at the time still referred to as “female testes” - together with observations on vesicles which are still known today as Graafian follicles. Besides these, he also studied rabbits’ ovaries after mating and found yellow bodies, or what we now call corpora lutea. According to de Graaf, humans, like other mammals, originate from the egg. He soon entered into a vitriolic battle with his friend Jan Swammerdam (1637-1680), who had published his research on the same subject that same year. They both claimed to be the first to describe the follicle, but ultimately the battle was cut short by de Graaf’s untimely death in 1673, at the age of 32, from galloping consumption.[5] Through his findings de Graaf became one of the pioneers of genital anatomy. 12 BWEADVSMGFINCORR:Opmaak 1 21-07-2014 17:39 Pagina 12