Rene Laennec
Catholic physician, discoverer of auscultation, father of modern knowledge of pulmonary diseases. Born Quimper, Brittany, 17 February 1781; died Kerlouanec, 13 August 1826. Studied medicine at the Charit hospital, Paris. He invented the stethoscope in 1816, and wrote the standard work on mediate auscultation. He described several medical conditions including bronchiectasis and cirrhosis. While working with tuberculosis patients, he contracted the disease himself. Cirrhosis of the liver is still sometimes called Lannec’s cirrhosis. Head of the Medical Clinic at Charit hospital. Professor at the Collge de France.