Prominent Poles
Jozef Strus, (Latin: Josephus Struthius) court physician of Zygmunt Stary, King of Poland and of Zygmunt August, King of Poland; Mayor of Poznan, a researcher famous for his studies on pulse; poet.
Born: ~1510, Poznan, Poland
Died: Died: March 16, 1568, Poznan, Poland
Early days. Father: Mikolaj, a brewer. Mother: Elzbieta, daughter of Poznan's mayor. He went to a town school at the Maria's Magdalena Collegiate; then he studied at the Lubranski Academy. In the period 1525-1529 he studied medicine at Krakow Academy (later named: Uniwersytet Jagiellonski) and got a master degree in 1531. During this time he wrote a poem dedicated to his teacher- Cyprian from Lowicz. After obtaining the bachelor degree he returned for a short time to Poznan to listen to the lectures of a prominent humanist- Krzysztof Hegendorfer. During this time he got close to a powerful Great Poland (wielkopolska) family- Gorka - and to the court of Jan Latalski, the archbishop of Gniezno. He dedicated them several of his poems. He also has written comments to the Astrology of Lucian of Samosata. In 1532 he began to study at the Padua University. During his studies there he began the translation of the works of Galen and Hippocrates. In 1535- while he was still a student- he was nominated for the position of the vice-rector of the university. After he passed the exam at the end of 1535 he got the title of a doctor and associate professor of theoretical medicine. He taught in Padua during 1535-1537.
Career. In 1537, at the request of the Chancellor of University of Krakow, he returned to Krakow and started teaching there. Later he moved to Poznan where he became a physician of Andrzej Gorka, Starosta Generalny (a royal official) for Great Poland . Later, Gorka recommended him to Zygmunt Stary, King of Poland. Strus went with Izabela Jagiellonka, King's daughter and fiancee of Jan Zapolyi, to the Hungarian court. He practiced medicine there, translated more of Galen's works and continued his studies on pulse. After returning to Poland he went with Andrzej Gorka to the Turkish court where he treated the sultan Suleiman II. In 1541 he returned to Poznan, bought several realties what made him one of the richest citizens. In 1555 he published in Basel, Switzerland the results of his 20 year studies : Sphygmicae artis iam mille ducentos annos perditae et desideratae libri V. In it he distinguished five types of pulse and the influence of fever and nervous condition on the pulse. William Harvey used these results later in his works. In 1557 and 1558 he was elected mayor of Poznan. In 1559 he became court physician of the King Zygmunt II August. At that time he was considered to be Europe's most prominent physician whose advice was requested several times by Philip II, King of Spain. Strus died of plague which he got while trying to help the poor during epidemic. Streets in Warsaw, Poznan and Krakow are named after him.
Personal. From 1543 to 1552 he was married to Poliksena Ungler and from 1554 to 1568 to Katarzyna Stroch. He didn't have any children.
Source:
This article uses mostly material from the Wikipedia article "Jozef Strus" Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.:
Wikipedia (in Polish)
Other sources:
Polskie Towarzystwo Kardiologiczne (in Polish)
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