Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: February 17th marks the 235th birth anniversary of René Laennec, the inventor of the one thing that became the trademark of every doctor in the world – the stethoscope.
Internet giant Google has, in its trademark doodle style, paid a 'stethoscopic' tribute to Laennec. The doodle shows Laennec in black and white holding his prized invention to his ear, while a doctor stands next to him holding a modern-day version of the stethoscope.
Born on this day in 1781 in Quimper (Brittany), Laennec invented the medical tool in 1816, while working at the Hôpital Necker and pioneered its use in diagnosing various chest conditions.
Apart from the stethoscope being his biggest invention, other contributions, according to Wikipedia, included the development of the understanding of peritonitis and cirrhosis. Although the disease of cirrhosis was known, Laennec gave cirrhosis its name, using the Greek word (kirrhos, tawny) that referred to the tawny, yellow nodules characteristic of the disease.
He coined the term melanoma and described metastases of melanoma to the lungs. In 1804, while still a medical student, he was the first person to lecture on melanoma.
Laennec died at a young age of 45 in 1826, 10 years after his invention, due to tubercolosis.
