Tag: Vignette
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Babur, the first Mughal emperor
Babur is remembered as the conqueror of India and founder of the Mughal dynasty. Born in 1483 in Andijan, present-day Uzbekistan, his full name was Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad Babur. His family was part of the “Mongolized Turkic” population that arose following the conquests by Genghis Khan in c. 1200 and the establishment of the mixed…
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The rat in medicine
Rats occupy a peculiar position in their relation to humans. Traditionally despised and hated as carriers of disease, they have become in recent years indispensable partners in the pursuit of better health, therapeutic innovation, and understanding of disease mechanisms. They are easy to handle, have a long history of selective breeding, and are physiologically and…
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On quadruple amputations
Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel Recently I read “How Losing My Limbs Turned Me into a Different Kind of Cook.”1 It is the story of Yewande Komolafe, whose two-decade career as a cook came to an abrupt end when a catastrophic sickle cell crisis led to bilateral below-the-knee and upper limb amputations. Cooking was at one…
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The spleen and melancholy
Old Democritus under a tree,Sits on a stone with book on knee;About him hang there many features,Of Cats, Dogs and such like creatures,Of which he makes anatomy,The seat of black choler to see.—Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy The spleen could be described as occupying a special place between medicine and science versus art and…
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Earl Bakken: Pacemaker pioneer and founder of Medtronic
Ahmed NadeemChicago, Illinois, United States Earl Bakken was an electrical engineer who developed the external, battery-operated, wearable pacemaker. He was born in Minnesota in 1924 and received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota. In 1949, he founded a company called Medtronic with his brother-in-law,…
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Jacobus Rau: Surgical innovator, renowned lithotomist, and educator at Leiden
Johann Jakob Rau, latinized to Johannes, was one of the most influential surgical innovators of early modern Europe, best known for transforming the treatment of urinary bladder stones through his lateral lithotomy technique. Born in 1668 in Baden-Baden, he was the son of wine merchant Johannes and Magdalena Muller. His early exposure to medicine came…
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Bernhard Siegfried Albinus: Anatomist and surgeon
Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, originally called Weiss, was born at Frankfurt on the Oder in 1697. There his father was professor of medicine until 1702 when he was transferred to the chair of medicine at Leiden University. Thus young Bernhard began his education in the Netherlands at the age of twelve, studying under the famous Govert…
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Lorenz Heister, German surgeon
Lorenz Heister (or Laurentius Heister in his Latin works) was a prominent German general, eye surgeon, and professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Altdorf, Germany. Heister contributed significantly to surgical practice, particularly through his influential surgical books, which hold a place in medical literature comparable to that of Ambroise Paré. Born to…
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A second mind in scientific writing
Rao UppuBaton Rouge, Louisiana, United States Clarity in scientific writing is a rare achievement. As Margaret Thatcher would have said in a different context, it does not fall from Heaven but needs work, often a lot of it. I learned this years ago, not in a laboratory or a seminar, but in my living room,…
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A Polish tragedy and a case without a diagnosis
On the morning of September 1, 1939, German troops attacked Poland without a declaration of war. Two weeks later, on September 17, while Poland was defending itself in the west, the Soviet Union attacked from the east. This two-pronged attack was too much for Poland to handle. On October 6, 1939, its last troops surrendered.…