Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738), according to the often-quoted expression of his pupil Albrecht von Haller,Communis Europae Praeceptor, the teacher of all Europe, has not received the attention from the historians of science that he should deserve. In the early 1 8thcentury, he attracted students from almost all over the world. To mention only a few, among his students were Linné from Uppsala,
... [Show full abstract] Haller from Göttingen, Cullen, Monro, and Sinclair from Edinburgh and he had contacts with Russian and Chinese scholars, etc.‘ What was the basis of his fame? One cannot connect any scientific discovery to his name. At the same time, we know that his pattern of scientific work, hismethodspread all over Europe. A number of historians of science find that it was Boerhaave who made the Newtonian turn, i.e., the Scientific Revolution, in chemistry, as well as in biology and medicine. If so, why is Boerhaave then almost unknown at the end of the 20thcentury?