Category: Physicians of Note
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James Parsons, physician and linguist (1705–1770)
Born in Devon and educated in Dublin, James Parsons studied medicine in Paris and became doctor of medicine at Rheims in 1736. Appointed physician to the public infirmary of St. Giles in 1738, he began an obstetric practice in London and became a Fellow of the Royal Academy. He studied antiquities, the fine arts, muscular…
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The Mauriacs
Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Howard Fischer (1947–2024). Three persons bearing the name Mauriac are remembered to have achieved a place of distinction in French literature and medicine. The most famous of these was François Charles Mauriac1 (1885–1970), “a French novelist, dramatist, critic, poet, and journalist,” author of A Kiss…
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Dr. William Gilbert Grace (W.G.)
JMS PearceHull, England By the time he qualified in medicine in 1879, William Gilbert Grace (1848–1915), known as “WG”, had established himself as the world’s greatest cricketer. Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack and the annals of cricket amply chronicle his career1 but are replete with boring statistics, which fail to do justice to his extraordinary, dazzling achievements…
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John Caius, MD (1510–1573)
JMS PearceHull, England Eminent physicians are remembered in different ways. A few have a street, statue, university department, or hall to perpetuate their name. But to have a college named after you is an uncommon distinction. John (Johannes) Caius—usually pronounced Keys—was born in Norwich, son of Robert Caius and Alice (née Wode). He was an…
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Pope John XXI, the only physician to become pope
Pope John XXI was born in Lisbon between 1210 and 1220. His original name was Pedro Rebuli Julião and he was also referred to as Petrus Hispanus (Peter of Spain). He was the only Portuguese ever to be pope. Strictly speaking he should have been John XX, but because of an error number XX was…
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Dr. Monty Perl—Pioneering Australian venereologist
Michael AbramsonMelbourne, Australia Mathias Michal (known as Monty) Perl was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 6 January 1873, the first son and second child of Michael Mathias Perl and Miriam (Mary) Davis. His father had arrived in Port Phillip aboard the Arabian in 1853 and established a successful business as a general merchant, wholesale…
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Eugène J. Woillez (1811–1882)
Eugène Woillez was born in the town of Montreuil sur Mer, near Calais, in 1811, one year before Napoleon committed the colossal error of invading Russia. As a young man, Woillez studied the sciences and arts, and spent his leisure painting with watercolors, playing musical instruments, and dabbling in lithography under the pseudonym Ozelli (his…
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The legacy of Armand Trousseau
JMS PearceHull, England “Every science touches art at some points—every art has its scientific side; the worst man of science is he who is never an artist, and the worst artist is he who is never a man of science.”– Armand Trousseau Trousseau’s sign is familiar to medical students as the carpopedal spasm caused by…
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Additional French surgeons
By the close of the fourteenth century, France emerged as the preeminent center of European surgical practice. Its early pioneers included Theodoric Borgognoni of Lucca (1205–1296), who played a pivotal role in elevating surgery from a craft to a respected medical discipline; Guido Lanfranc of Milan (1250–1315), who further refined surgical techniques; and Henri de…
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William P. Murphy Jr., MD: Physician-inventor
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “…An unqualified success.”– Dr. Murphy on the testing of blood bags during the Korean War It is perhaps no coincidence that the son of the physician who revolutionized the treatment of pernicious anemia should likewise have been an inventor. By the time he died in 2023 at the age of 100, Dr.…