Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Marie Curie

  • Book review: Female innovators who changed our world: how women shaped STEM

    Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, England, United Kingdom STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) play an important part in our lives. The march of scientific and technological progress continues unabated and is responsible for revolutionizing life in the modern world. But schools, universities, and professional societies worldwide lament that not enough female pupils enter careers in these…

  • Serendipity in science and medicine

    JMS Pearce Hull, England, United Kingdom   Photo by Tyler Merbler on Flickr. CC BY 2.0. The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!”, but “That’s funny…” – Isaac Asimov   Horace Walpole (son of the first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole) coined the word…

  • Sister Kenny: The forgotten Nightingale

    Anand Raja Devaraj SushamaKerala, India Medical practices flourish and fall out of favor with time. Some become the norm only to turn redundant later; others prevail after a hard battle for acceptance. A campaign is even more arduous when the proponent is outside the establishment. Sister Elizabeth Kenny and her eponymous polio treatment, the “Kenny…

  • Review of Fracture: Stories of How Great Lives Take Root in Trauma

    Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, United Kingdom The lives of people who seem to be endowed with extraordinary abilities have long been a source of fascination. The famous Italian physician, researcher, and founder of the science of criminology, Cesare Lombroso, professed this interest in his 1889 book The Man of Genius, stating that genius was a form…

  • Serendipity: Is it mere lucky coincidence?

    Isuri Wimalasiri Ratmalana, Sri Lanka   View of Sri Lanka from Ptolemy’s world map of Ceylong Many Sri Lankans may not be aware that the origins of the term “serendipity” are linked to their country. The word was coined by English writer Horace Walpole, who wrote a letter to a friend about a folk story…