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Biography of Rene LaennecName: Rene LaennecBirth Date: February 17, 1781 Death Date: August 17, 1826 Place of Birth: Quimper, France Nationality: French Gender: Male Occupations: physician, inventor Rene Laennec Rene-Theophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (1781-1826), the French physician hailed as the father of thoracic medicine, forever transformed the diagnosis of chest disease through his invention of the stethoscope. His creative genius and tireless dedication to medicine have resulted in much of our modern day understanding of pathology.Rene Laennec's contributions to the medical world were many. His commitment to keen listening (perhaps inspired by his training as a flutist) and careful observation of the patient allowed him to recognize diseases like pneumonia that had been previously overlooked or misdiagnosed, and were historically deadly. His most classic publication is a book entitled De l'Auscultation Mediate (On Mediate Auscultation, also referred to as the Treatise). Although he was most famous for his discovery of "mediate auscultation" (a term he coined, referring to the use of an instrument, or mediator that allowed one to hear sounds within the human body), Laennec also published thousands of pages …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…when he returned home to beloved Brittany.During his last days Laennec had added a codicil to his will, bequeathing his stethoscope, which he referred to as, "the best part of my legacy," to his nephew. Like so many he had known and loved, Laennec was killed by tuberculosis--a disease which he understood like no physician before him. Regardless of his ever-present sickness, he dedicated his life to knowledge and healing. His Uncle Guillaume once told him, "Our calling is like a set of chains that one must carry at all hours of the day and night." Further Reading Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Volume 7, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973.Nuland, Sherwin B., Doctors: The Biography of Medicine, Knopf, 1988..American Journal of Medicine, February 1991, p. 275.Chest Surgery Clinics of North America, February 2000, p. 9.Journal of Family Practice, Vol. 37, No.2, 1993, p 191."Rene Laennec," A and E Network Biography, http://www.biography.com (January 31, 2001). |