Career
At the foundation of the Royal Society he took on the task of foreign correspondence, as the first Secretary. 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 went to London in 1653, as a diplomat. And settled in England of the Interregnum.
Among Oldenburg"s correspondents at this time was Baruch Spinoza, who he was introduced to on a trip to the Netherlands, and to whom he presented a volume of writings on scientific topics by Boyle. After the Restoration he became an early member (original fellow) of the Royal Society (founded in 1660), and served as its first secretary along with John Wilkins, maintaining an extensive network of scientific contacts through Europe.
He also became the founding editor of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
Oldenburg began the practice of sending submitted manuscripts to experts who could judge their quality before publication. This was the beginning of both the modern scientific journal and the practice of peer review. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society continues today and is the longest running scientific journal in the world.
He was briefly imprisoned in the Tower as a suspected spy in 1667, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
Oldenburg"s correspondence was linked to support from the politician Sir Joseph Williamson. In part Oldenburg supplied Williamson with intelligence information.
Oldenburg enjoyed good health in his lifetime, but he fell seriously ill on 3 September 1677, and he died two days thereafter at his Pall Mall, London home. He was interred on 7 September at Street Mary the Virgin, Bexley.
His widow died ten days later.
Flanders
René François Walter de Sluse
France
Adrien Auzout, Henri Justel, Pierre Petit
Germany
Sir William Curtius, Johann Hevelius, Gottfried Leibniz, Philipp Jacob Sachs von Lewenheimb, Johann Daniel Major, Martin Vogel
Italy
Marcello Malpighi
Netherlands
Reinier de Graaf, Christiaan Huygens, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Willem Ten Rhijne, Benedictus/Baruch Spinoza, Peter Serrarius.