Nov 07
Marie Curie (1867) It was on this date, November 7, 1867, that French chemist and nuclear physicist Marie Curie was born Maria Salomea Skłodowska in Warsaw, Poland. She was brought up a Catholic by her mother, but her father was a freethinker and provided her with some scientific training. She abandoned Catholicism before she was …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3858
Oct 13
Rudolf Virchow (1821) It was on this date, October 13, 1821, that German pathologist, anthropologist and politician, Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow, was born in Schivelbein, Pomerania, Prussia. Rudolf Virchow was one of the keenest minds in 19th century medicine in Europe, the founder of the science of cellular pathology – the theory that disease arises …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3647
Sep 29
Michael Servetus (1511) It was on this date, September 29, 1511,* that the Spanish cleric Miguel Serveto, known by his Latinized name, Michael Servetus, was born in Villanueva. Recognizing an incipient intellect, at the age of 13, his father, a Roman Catholic cleric, sent his son to study at the University of Zaragoza/Lerida. It developed …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3279
Sep 01
Auguste Forel (1848) It was on this date, September 1, 1848, that Swiss physiologist Auguste-Henri Forel was born in La Gracieuse, near Morges, Switzerland. He was fascinated as a boy with insects of all kinds, but was persuaded to study medicine at the University of Zürich, 1866-1871. In spite of that, he published papers on …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3067
Aug 31
Hermann von Helmholtz (1821) It was on this date, August 31, 1821, that German physician and physicist Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was born in Potsdam, Prussia, in what is now Germany. The son of a classics teacher of small means, Hermann was persuaded to set aside his love of natural science in favor of …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3057
Jul 25
Church opposition to surgery, dissection and the study of anatomy slowed the development of medicine.
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=2724
Jul 12
William Osler (1849) On this date, July 12, 1849, the Anglo-American physician William Osler was born in Bond Head, Canada West (now Ontario). He took his MD in 1872 and taught medicine from 1874-1884. In 1889 he became the first professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. By the turn of the century, …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=2588
May 12
“I am so glad that my God is not the God of the High Church or of the Low,” said Nightingale. She despised the churches and was an advanced Rationalist.
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=2177
Recent Comments