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February is the 235th birthday of Rene' Laennec, the French physician who in 1816 attempting to listen more carefully to the chest of a young woman suffering heart disease and unable to place his ear on her chest due to her sex and obesity, ruled up the paper chart to listen through the tube. The acoustics worked so well that Laennec developed a wooden tube for routine use.
Laennec was born February 17th 1781 in Brittany. His mother died of TB when he was 5. At age 12 he studied medicine with an uncle at the University in Nantes. A good student, Rene' wrote poetry, learned English, German, studied Greek, Later in 1799 at the University of Pari, Laennec reintroduced the art of percussion as described earlier, 1761, by Leopold Auenberger, a cellist, physician and friend of Motzart. In 1816 Laennec developed his acoustic tube and explored its further subtelities for diagnosis. Laennec published his classic text De Auscultation Mediate 1819, a notable reference even today. Laennec worked as a chest physician, lecturer and professor at the College de France 1822-23; he treated TB patients at the Hospital de la Charite'.
Laennec was said to have had TB, possibly since childhood; he died in 1826, at age 45, having made one of the greatest contributions to the art of medicine -- the same year Chopin published his Polonaise in London.
February is the 235th birthday of Rene' Laennec, the French physician who in 1816 attempting to listen more carefully to the chest of a young woman suffering heart disease and unable to place his ear on her chest due to her sex and obesity, ruled up the paper chart to listen through the tube. The acoustics worked so well that Laennec developed a wooden tube for routine use.
Laennec was born February 17th 1781 in Brittany. His mother died of TB when he was 5. At age 12 he studied medicine with an uncle at the University in Nantes. A good student, Rene' wrote poetry, learned English, German, studied Greek, Later in 1799 at the University of Pari, Laennec reintroduced the art of percussion as described earlier, 1761, by Leopold Auenberger, a cellist, physician and friend of Motzart. In 1816 Laennec developed his acoustic tube and explored its further subtelities for diagnosis. Laennec published his classic text De Auscultation Mediate 1819, a notable reference even today. Laennec worked as a chest physician, lecturer and professor at the College de France 1822-23; he treated TB patients at the Hospital de la Charite'.
Laennec was said to have had TB, possibly since childhood; he died in 1826, at age 45, having made one of the greatest contributions to the art of medicine -- the same year Chopin published his Polonaise in London.
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