Category: Physicians of Note
-
Morris Fishbein, MD—foe of four-flushers, flimflammers, and fakes
Laura KingAtlanta, Georgia, United States Born in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 22, 1889, and raised in Indianapolis, Morris Fishbein emerged from his humble origins as the second eldest of eight children born to a Jewish immigrant tin peddler (Benjamin Fishbein) and his wife (Fannie Fishbein) to become the preeminent physician of his generation. After…
-
Sir John Pringle, public health and military medicine pioneer
At the end of the eighteenth century, Scottish doctors were more popular with patients than English ones because “their useful knowledge contrasted with the ornamental learning of English physicians who were Anglican or Oxbridge trained.”1 By 1825 almost 70% of all fellows and licentiates of the Royal College of Physicians were Scottish educated, including Richard…
-
A walk with giants
Herbert AusubelValley Stream, New York, United States Having had the opportunity to receive a medical education at Harvard Medical School, I was exposed to several individuals who were pioneers in the treatment of disease, something for which I will be forever grateful. And so, I would like to say a few words about my personal…
-
Francis Henry Williams: the first American chest radiologist
Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, United Kingdom Francis Henry Williams was born in Massachusetts on July 15, 1852. His father was a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. Williams graduated in chemistry in 1873 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in medicine from Harvard in 1877.1 He followed this with two years of training in…
-
Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman
Tonse N. K. RajuGaithersburg, MD, United States On March 15, 2021, the United States Senate confirmed Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM), a member of the Laguna Pueblo Tribal Nation, as Secretary of the Department of Interior. This historic action marks the beginning of an end to centuries of invisibility of Native Americans in high-profile government positions.…
-
The wayward Paracelsus
JMS PearceEast Yorks, England Alterius non sit qui suus esse potestLet no man be another’s who can be himself Paracelsus 1552 Paracelsus was the most original, controversial character of the Renaissance,1 who brazenly questioned and condemned the dictates of Galen and other ancient physicians. In an age of mysticism and alchemy, this solitary figure laid…
-
Giorgio Baglivi and The Practice of Physick
James MarcumWaco, Texas, United States “To form a right Judgment of Diseases, is a very difficult Matter.” With this opening sentence, Giorgio Baglivi (Figure 1) began his 1696 treatise De Praxi Medica, which was translated in 1704 as The Practice of Physick (Figure 2).1 Throughout the treatise, he frames the problems plaguing late seventeenth and…
-
Fortunio Liceti (1577-1567)—Aristotelean teratologist
Fortunio Liceti’s mother was seven months pregnant when on a sea voyage to Rapallo (on the coast of Liguria) she went into labor—supposedly because of the motions of the ship. It has been said that her baby was so small that it fit into the palm of one hand. The father, a physician, placed it…
-
Presentism
Jayant RadhakrishnanChicago, Illinois, United States The Oxford English Dictionary defines presentism as “uncritical adherence to present-day attitudes, especially the tendency to interpret past events in terms of modern values and concepts.” The term may have been used as far back as the 1870s and applies to acts, beliefs, and people that were acceptable or even…
-
Gospel Argonaut
Josephine EnsignSeattle, Washington, United States Short of stature and tall of tales, Alexander de Soto was by some accounts a highly educated, skilled, compassionate physician and surgeon, and by other accounts a charlatan, medical quack, faith healer, and quixotic dreamer. Born on July 24, 1840, in the Canary Islands to the Spaniard Alexander de Soto…