Heinrich Quincke

Heinrich Quincke

Heinrich Irenaeus Quincke (1842 - 1922) German physician and surgeon, most famous for his introduction of lumbar puncture (also called Quincke's puncture) for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. He is also remembered for his study on a wide variety of diseases such as angioedema (Quincke's edema), benign/idiopathic intracranial hypertention (which he called serous meningitis), Quincke's pulse (with redness and pallor under the fingernails, one of the signs of aortic insufficiency), and Quincke's position (supine position with the head lower than the feet). Although Quincke was primarily an internist, he retained an active interest in lung surgery throughout his life. His older brother was the physicist, Georg Hermann Quincke.

Edmund Rose

Edmund Rose

Edmund Rose (1836 - 1914) German surgeon, son of the mineralogist Gustav Rose, and the grandson of the pharmacologist Valentin Rose the Younger. He is remembered for his pathological studies of cardiac tamponade, a term which he coined. He also did research on color blindness and xanthopsia, and the adverse effects of the formerly used anthelminthic Santonin.

Ambroise Pare

Ambroise Pare

Ambroise Pare (1510 - 1590) French surgeon, considered one of the fathers of surgery. He was an innovator in the field of battlefield surgery and the story of how he accidentally created what was perhaps the first clinical trial in the history of medical science is a famous example of his powers of observation and also his compassion towards his patients, for which he was well known. The oft used statement, "I treated but God healed" was first made by Pare. Pare is also known for the experiment where he discredited the then widely held superstitious belief in bezoars as an antidote for poisoning. He also contributed to the development of prosthetic substitutes, such as artificial limbs and eyes.

Friedrich Neufeld

Fred Neufeld

Friedrich Neufeld (1869 - 1945) German physician and bacteriologist, who discovered the various pneumococcal types. In 1900, Neufeld found out the bile solubility of pneumococci. Later using immunological techniques he classified the pneumococci into three types, based on the fact that the bacteria would swell in the presence of the specific anti-sera, which he called the Quellung reaction (from the German for swelling). Neufeld was also a gifted pianist, and he never married and lived with his mother throughout his life. Neufeld is supposed to have died in war torn Berlin in 1945 from Entkraftung (exhaustion).

Frederick Griffith

Fred Griffith

Frederick Griffith (1879 - 1941) British public health scientist, who in 1927 conducted the now famous experiment, which demonstrated the phenomenon of bacterial transformation, then attributed to the presence of a transforming principle, and later proved by Oswald Avery, Colin MacCleod and Maclyn Mccarty as genetic DNA. In what is now known as the Griffith experiment, Frederick Griffith demonstrated conclusively that the non-pathogenic R strain of the pneumococcus can be induced to transform into the pathogenic S strain. It was said that Griffith and his colleague-friend William Scott could do more with a kerosene tin and primus stove than most men could with a palace, because of the fact that the laboratory conditions they worked in were primitive, and yet their research was outstanding. Griffith is supposed to have died along with his friend Scott in his apartment amid an air raid during WW II's London Blitz.

Hans Christian Gram

Hans Christian Gram

Hans Christian Gram (1853 - 1958) Danish bacteriologist, who developed the Gram stain method of differential staining that has become a widely used method for classifying pathogenic bacteria. Gram was also among the first to notice that macrocytes are a characteristic feature of pernicious anemia, which was in fact the subject matter of his doctoral thesis. Gram studied botany before studying medicine and he retained a life long interest in plants. He was a very modest man and remarked on his publication of the Gram staining procedure that it was an imperfect method which he hoped would be improved upon by fellow scientists.

Auguste Ambroise Tardieu

Auguste Tardieu

Auguste Ambroise Tardieu (1818 -1879) The foremost French toxicologist and forensic medical expert of the mid-19th century. He was involved as expert evidence in some of the most notorious murder cases in the history of France. Tardieu was the first to write on child sexual abuse, which he classified as a type of physical assault. Battered child syndrome, now widely recognized, is also known as Tardieu's syndrome in his honor. Tardieu's ecchymosis, subpleural spots of ecchymosis that follow the death of a new born child by strangulation or suffocation, were first described by him in 1859. Besides being an expert in legal medicine, Tardieu also wrote about the terrible working conditions of children in mines and factories, which had a great positive impact in bring about much needed change.

Mathieu Orfila

Mathieu Orfila

Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila (1787 - 1853) Spanish born French toxicologist, regarded as the founder of forensic medicine. Orfila was one of the first to publish books on toxicology and patterns of decomposition of dead bodies. He was consulted as the foremost toxicologist for evidence in many celebrated murder cases in 19th century France. Orfila was also a physician, but his primary interest was in forensic and legal medicine. One of his most celebrated cases was the sensational Marie LaFarge case in 1840, in which he conclusively proved that arsenic was used as a poison to perpetrate the murder.