Volcher Coiter

Volcher Coiter (also spelled Coyter or Koyter; 1534 – 2 June 1576) was a Dutch anatomist who established the study of comparative osteology and first described cerebrospinal meningitis.

Volcher Coiter
Born1534
Groningen
Died2 June 1576
Brienne-le-Château
NationalityDutch
Scientific career
FieldsAnatomy
Academic advisorsUlisse Aldrovandi
Gabriele Falloppio
Bartolomeo Eustachi
Guillaume Rondelet

Biography
Avian anatomy illustration by Coiter

Coiter was born in Groningen. He studied in Italy and France and was a pupil of Ulisse Aldrovandi, Gabriele Falloppio, Bartolomeo Eustachi and Guillaume Rondelet. He became city physician of Nuremberg in 1569. He took part in the French Wars of Religion as field surgeon to Count Palatine Johann Casimir. He died in Champagne during the German forces' return march.

His works included Externarum et Internarum Principalium Humani Corporis Partium Tabulae (1572)[1] and De Avium Sceletis et Praecipius Musculis (1575). His work included detailed anatomical studies of birds as well as a classification of the birds based on structure and habits. He produced an early dichotomous classification key.[2]

References
  1. Externarum et internarum principalium humani corporis partium tabulae... (in Latin) (1572), 1st ed., Nuremberg: Théodore Gerlatzen. at the Internet Archive
  2. Allen, Elsa G. (1951). "The History of American Ornithology before Audubon". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. New series. 41 (3): 387–591. JSTOR 1005629.

Further reading
  • Stresemann, Erwin (1975). Ornithology from Aristotle to the Present. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-64485-4.


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