medical science

Gerolamo Cardano and Physician, Mathematician, and Gambler

Gerolamo Cardano and Physician, Mathematician, and Gambler

On September 24, 1501, Italian Renaissance mathematician, physician, astrologer and gambler Gerolamo Cardano was born. He wrote more than 200 works on medicine, mathematics, physics, philosophy, religion, and music. But, he is best known for his gambling that led him to formulate elementary rules in probability, making him one of the founders of probability theory. “The greatest advantage in gambling lies in not playing at all.” – Gerolamo Cardano (around 1560). Liber…
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Phineas Gage’s Accident and the Science of the Mind and the Brain

Phineas Gage’s Accident and the Science of the Mind and the Brain

On September 13, 1848, Phineas Gage (aged 25) was foreman of a work gang blasting rock while preparing the roadbed for the Rutland & Burlington Railroad outside the town of Cavendish, Vermont, when a large iron rod was driven completely through his head. Much of his brain‘s left frontal lobe was destroyed, reportedly affecting his personality and behavior. Phineas Gage influenced nineteenth-century discussion about the mind and brain, particularly debate on cerebral…
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Athanasius Kircher – A Man in Search of Universal Knowledge

Athanasius Kircher – A Man in Search of Universal Knowledge

On May 2nd, 1601 (or 1602), German Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher was born. He has published most notably in the fields of oriental studies, geology, and medicine, and has been compared to Leonardo da Vinci for his enormous range of interests.[5] He is regarded as one of the founders of Egyptology for his (mostly fruitless) efforts in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, wrote an encyclopedia about China, studied volcanos and fossils, was one of the very…
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James Parkinson and Parkinson’s Disease

James Parkinson and Parkinson’s Disease

On April 11, 1755, English apothecary surgeon, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist James Parkinson was born. He is most famous for his 1817 work, An Essay on the Shaking Palsy, in which he was the first to describe “paralysis agitans“, a condition that would later be renamed Parkinson‘s disease. James Parkinson James Parkinson was born in London. His father was an apothecary and surgeon, practicing in the city and in 1784 Parkinson…
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Fritz Schaudinn and the ‘French Disease’

Fritz Schaudinn and the ‘French Disease’

On March 3, 1905, German zoologist Fritz Schaudinn together with dermatologist Erich Hoffmann discovered the causative agent of syphilis, the spiral-shaped Spirochaeta pallida, at Berlin Charité Clinic. The Origin of Syphilis The origin of syphilis is not very clear, but it is assumed that it was present in the Americas before European contact. Many historical scientists assume, that the illness was carried to Europe by the returning crewmen from Christopher Columbus‘s voyage.…
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Caspar Friedrich Wolff – the Founder of Embryology

Caspar Friedrich Wolff – the Founder of Embryology

On January 18, 1734, German physiologist Caspar Friedrich Wolff was born. He is recognized as one of the founders of embryology. In Theoria Generationis (1759) he first wrote an epigenetic theory of development: that the organs of living things take shape gradually from non-specific tissue. Caspar Friedrich Wolff – Youth and Education Caspar Friedrich Wolff was born in Berlin in 1734 as the son of master tailor Johann Wolff and his wife Anna…
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Hildegard of Bingen – More than the ‘Sybil of the Rhine’

Hildegard of Bingen – More than the ‘Sybil of the Rhine’

Although her exact birthdate is uncertain, we dedicate today’s article to an extraordinary woman in science: German writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath St Hildegard of Bingen. At a time when few women wrote, Hildegard, known as “Sybil of the Rhine“, produced major works of theology and visionary writings. She used the curative powers of natural objects for healing, and wrote treatises about natural history and medicinal uses of…
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Louis Pasteur – the Father of Medical Microbiology

Louis Pasteur – the Father of Medical Microbiology

On December 27, 1822, French chemist Louis Pasteurwas born, who is considered one of the most important founders of medical microbiology. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and prevention of diseases. “I am utterly convinced that Science and Peace will triumph over Ignorance and War, that nations will eventually unite not to destroy but to edify, and that the future will belong to those who have done the…
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Paracelsus – a Typical Renaissance Scientist?

Paracelsus – a Typical Renaissance Scientist?

Probably in 1493,  the famous Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist, who called himself Paracelsus — with all testified names that never all occur simultaneously he can also be referred to as Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombast von Hohenheim, was born. “All is interrelated. Heaven and earth, air and water. All are but one thing; not four, not two and not three, but one. Where they are not together, there is only…
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Alexander Fleming and the Accidental Discovery of Penicillin

Alexander Fleming and the Accidental Discovery of Penicillin

On September 3, 1928, Scottish pharmacologist Alexander Fleming by chance and because of his notorious untidyness discovered Penicillin. “One sometimes finds, what one is not looking for. When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.” — Alexander Fleming [11] Alexander Fleming – Early Years…
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