René Laennec was only 45 years old when tuberculosis claimed him. He coined the term cirrhosis, using the Greek word (kirrhos, tawny) that referred to the tawny, yellow nodules characteristic of the disease. He speculated that the use of a wooden cylinder would be superior to the previous practice of placing one's ear over the chest to hear sounds. Rene Laennec was born to Michelle and Theophile Laennec in the Breton country town of Quimper, France on February 17, 1781. He is remembered for inventing the stethoscope in the year 1816. He could now hear the sounds more clearly. His skill as a flautist may also have inspired him. When did Henry Ford sell the first Model T car? http://www.quimper.bzh/1112-petite-histoire-de-la-statue-laennec-sur-la-place-saint-corentin.htm. He was the son of Michelle Laënnec and Théophile-Marie Laënnec. French physician and musician Rene Laennec (1781-1826) is best known for his invention of the stethoscope in 1816. [2] He pioneered its usage in diagnosing various chest conditions.

Laennec invented the stethoscope. Corvisart advocated the re-introduction of percussion during the French Revolution.[5]. © copyright 2003-2020 Study.com. René Laennec was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, in 1824. He coined the term melanoma, referring to a type of cancer that typically occurs in the skin but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye. A stanch Roman Catholic, his religious affiliation helped him to secure an appointment as personal physician to Joseph Cardinal Fesch, half brother of Napoleon and French ambassador to the Vatican in Rome. Pulmonary phthisis, for example, was one ailment he could more clearly identify using his knowledge of typical and atypical chest sounds. Never having enjoyed robust health, René Laennec was diagnosed with tuberculosis in April 1826. In 1802, René Laennec began publishing his first work on various scientific topics. The introduction of auscultation—a new method to diagnose diseases was his biggest contribution to medical science. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was five years old, and he went to live with his great-uncle the Abbé Laennec (a priest). [11] He was noted as a very kind man and his charity to the poor became proverbial. Born as the son of a lawyer, René Laennec was actually discouraged from practicing medicine as a young man. Laennec's cirrhosis, a disease associated with inflammatory polyarthritis is named after him. In 1816, René Laennec was appointed a physician at the Necker Hospital in Paris. Laennec studied medicine at the University of Paris under several famous physicians, including Dupuytren and Jean-Nicolas Corvisart-Desmarets. His death (says M. Bayle) was that of a Christian. He continued working hard in spite of his health issues. He coined the term melanoma and described metastases of melanoma to the lungs. Professor Benjamin Ward Richardson stated in Disciples of Aesculapius that "the true student of medicine reads Laennec's treatise on mediate auscultation and the use of the stethoscope once in two years at least as long as he is in practice. René Laënnec, in full René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laënnec (French: laɛnɛk), was born on 17th February 1781, in Quimper, France, to Théophile-Marie Laënnec and Michelle Félicité Guesdon Laënnec.