Jan Bastiaan Molewater

Jan Bastiaan Molewater (16 August 1813 – 9 December 1864) was a Dutch medical doctor, lecturer and administrator. He served as the first medical director of the Coolsingel Hospital in Rotterdam and played a leading role in founding the city's Institute for the Deaf and Dumb.

Early life and education Molewater was born in Rotterdam, the son of Adriaan Molewater, a tax receiver, and Johanna Cornelia van Alphen. From 1826 to 1830 he studied at the under . In 1830 he enrolled at Leiden University as a law student, but soon turned to medicine while also pursuing natural sciences, philosophy, and literature. He was popular among fellow students and took an active part in student life. In August 1856 he led the rapid care of the victims of the 1856 Schiedam train accident that was afterwards praised in the media.

Through a speech on 17 March 1852 he gave the decisive impetus to the founding of the Rotterdam Institute for the Deaf and Dumb. He was elected chairman of its board in 1853 and remained in that position until his death, regarded as the driving force of the institution.

Molewater died in Rotterdam on 9 December 1864 after an illness for which he had sought recovery in Italy earlier that year.

Publications Molewater wrote little. Apart from official reports, one of his few printed works was a description of the Rotterdam Hospital in the volume Rotterdam geschetst in zijne voornaamste gebouwen, kerken en gestichten (Rotterdam, 1863).