Tag: George Dunea
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The history of eyeglasses
Efforts to improve vision date back to the ancient civilizations of India and China. Greek scholars such as Ptolemy and Euclid endeavored to understand the physics of light refraction, the mechanisms of lenses, and how their properties can enhance vision and literacy. The Romans magnified the letters they were looking at by placing reading stones…
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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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Von Recklinghausen (1833–1910)
Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen is remembered eponymously for describing the genetic disorder neurofibromatosis type 1. He was born in 1833 in Gütersloh, Westphalia, where his father was an elementary school teacher, and his mother died shortly after his birth. He attended high school at Ratsgymnasium in Bielefeld, studied medicine at the universities of Bonn, Würzburg,…
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Democedes, “the most skillful physician of his time”
The renowned Greek physician Democedes of Croton is remembered for his expertise and influential role in the courts of ancient rulers. His father was Calliphon, a priest, physician, and of such savage temper that he caused Democedes to leave Croton and sail away to the island of Aegina. There he set up a medical practice…
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The rise and fall of human dissection
The practice of dissecting human bodies can be traced back to the Greek physicians Herophilus (335–280 BC) and Erasistratus (304–250 BC) of Alexandria, or even earlier to a rite of passage of the pharaohs to the kingdom of the dead. Roman law and early Christian teachings prohibited dissection, so that early anatomists such as Galen…
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Emil von Behring and passive antibody therapy
In a March 1929 editorial, the British Medical Journal referred to Emil von Behring (1854–1917) as one of the greatest benefactors of humanity. Recipient of the first-ever Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and awarded a title of nobility, the German physiologist who developed a serum for treating diphtheria and tetanus was showered with orders…
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The life and science of Pierre Curie (1859–1906)
Pierre Curie was a pioneering physicist whose scientific achievements, notably in collaboration with his wife, Marie Sklodowska-Curie, have had a lasting impact on the field of physics. He was born in 1859, having a doctor as his father and a well-educated woman as his mother. He was homeschooled by his father, who introduced him to…
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Gregor Johann Mendel, father of modern genetics (1822–1884)
Gregor Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who laid the foundation of the science of heredity and genetics. Although his contributions to science were not widely recognized during his life, his work with pea plants in the mid-19th century revolutionized our understanding of how traits are inherited across generations, thus greatly influencing medicine,…
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The illness and death of Jane Austen
The final years of Jane Austen were overshadowed by a mysterious illness that has long since been a subject of speculation and debate. Her health began to decline in early 1816, when she was around forty years old. Her letters from that period make occasional references to fatigue and bouts of illness, but she tended…