Nils Rosén von Rosenstein was a Swedish physician. He is considered the founder of modern pediatrics, while his work The diseases of children, and their remedies is considered to be "the first modern textbook on the subject".
Career
Nils Rosén was born in Sexdrega, Västra Götaland County in 1706. Son of the vicar Erich Rosenius and of Anna Wekander, he studied at the Gymnasium of Gothenburg and when he was 16 years old at Lund University under Kilian Stobaeus, and in Uppsala. In 1727, he was appointed as a lecturer at the Uppsala University, replacing Petrus Martin who had recently died. Rosén had already worked as an assistant to professor Olof Rudbeck at the time. But he couldn't take up this position until 1731, spending those four years traveling and studying abroad in Germany, Italy, France, and the Netherlands, where he studied for a while under Friedrich Hoffmann, Herman Boerhaave and Pieter van Musschenbroek. He stayed for a year in Geneva in Switzerland with Albrecht von Haller. In 1730, Rosén stayed in Harderwijk where he received his medical degree with his work De historiis morborum rite consignandis. He returned to Uppsala on 1 March 1731. In those years, he was a rival for Carl Linnaeus, who was one year younger. Both working at the Uppsala University, they aimed for the same position there. They had a strained relation, with on the one hand Rosén teaching Linnaeus medicine, but on the other hand Rosén trying to take over the botanical demonstrations Linnaeus gave at the botanical gardens. At one time, Rosén had Linnaeus expelled from the University for lecturing without the necessary qualifications, after which an enraged Linnaeus tried to stab him with a sword. Eventually, they would both hold one of the chairs of medicine and cooperate more friendly. In 1740, Rosen was the successor of Olof Rudbeck as professor of medicine at Uppsala University. He was responsible for the fields of physiology, anatomy, and practical medicine, and Rosen and Linnaeus were together responsible for pathology and chemistry. Originally, they held reverse positions, but considering their specialties and main interests, they switched those in 1742. From colleagues, they became friends later on, with Rosén treating Linnaeus when he suffered from the so-called Uppsala Fever or pleurisy in 1764, and Linnaeus returning the favor two years later. He was First Physician to the King of Sweden by 1743, retaining this title under Frederick of Sweden, Adolf Frederick of Sweden, and Gustav III of Sweden. He was made a Knight of the Polar Star and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and ennobled in 1762, changing his name from Nils Rosén to Nils Rosén von Rosenstein.
Archiater og Ridder Hr. Rosen von Rosensteins paa Hendes Kongl. Svenske Majestets naadigste befaling forfattede Huus- og Reese-Apotheque : trykt i Stockholm hos Carl Gotlieb Ulf 1765. ; Kjøbenhavn : Svare, 1768. by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
