Who was Reinier de Graaf?

Reinier de Graaf was undoubtedly one of the pioneers of the science of reproductive medicine. He lived from 1641 to 1673, and he worked as a doctor in Delft from 1666 until his death. He was the first one to describe follicles, which he called "kleine bollekens" ,in the ovary which he called 'the female testicles' and he realized that a follicle contained an oocyte, which he called 'ovum'. Although he has never seen an oocyte; he deduced its presence from the observation of an ectopic pregnancy.

He made many other discoveries in the field of reproduction; the function of the fallopian tube (itself discovered more than a century previously), the path that the ovum had to take through the tube from the ovary to the uterus, and the influence of a hydrosalpinx on the fertility of the woman.

He was not aware of the existence of spermatozoa; these were discovered shortly after his death by a student in Amsterdam, Johannes Ham, with the microscope, invented by his good friend Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek.

In spite of the immense scientific contributions that were already acknowledged during his life, he was denied the chairmanship at Leyden University- because he did not belong to the ruling protestant class- he was a catholic- when, in 1672, professor Sylvius died, and a successor had to be found. 

He died tragically, a year later, at the early age of 32 years. Just before his death he experienced a polemic fight with his former friend Jan Swammerdam, who falsely accused him of plagiarism. This resulted in a deep depression. If this wasn't enough his only child, a son died within three weeks after birth in April 1673.

Although the official cause of death, in august 1673, is unknown, his friends attributed the demise to the circumstances he had found himself in. In those days, just as it is to a lesser extent today in the Netherlands, due to religious and socio-cultural influences, it was frowned upon to openly talk about suicide. Especially Catholics considered this unforgivable and a deep social shame.  Yet his death had all the hallmarks of this. At any rate, it was acknowledged by his contemporaries that during the last period of his life he had  lost all joy of living.

During his short life he has had a fundamental and lasting influence on the knowledge of procreation, and the scientific progression, and we should all be grateful for that.

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