Henry Oldenburg - Early Life

Early Life

Born in Bremen, Germany, he trained in theology and received his degree on 2 November 1639. His movements during the 1640s are unclear, but he is thought to have worked as a tutor in England for much of the decade. In 1648 he left England and travelled, returning in the end to Bremen.

He came to London in 1653, as a diplomat; and settled in England of the Interregnum. He forged a strong relationship with his lifelong patron Robert Boyle, and was tutor to his nephew Richard Jones. Oldenburg married as his second wife, Dora Katherina Dury (1654–77), the daughter of John Dury. Either through John Milton, whom he met early in his mission, or through Lady Ranelagh, sister to Boyle and the mother of Richard Jones, Oldenburg gained entry to an important intellectual circle, including Samuel Hartlib, whose extensive web of correspondents Oldenburg was to take over, John Dury who became his father-in-law, and others such as William Petty.