Category Archives: Pioneers in Medicine

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1945-1923) was the first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. Röntgen produced and observed radiation outside of the known electromagnetic spectrum of the time. Born in Lennep, Germany, Röntgen was raised in the Netherlands. He was expelled from school in 1863 for refusing to name the person who had drawn a caricature of a teacher. Finding it difficult to gain admittance to any further education in the Netherlands or Germany, Röntgen finally gained entry… (more…)

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was a main founder of microbiology along with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch. Pasteur’s early work in crystallography earned positions first as professor of chemistry Faculté of Strasbourg then in 1954 Dean of the Faculty of Sciences in Lille. Pasteur was made administrator and director of Scientific Studies at the elite college Ecole Normale Supérieure in 1956. Three of his five children died in childhood, leading to his studies of infection and disease. The germ theory of… (more…)

Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955), a Scottish biologist, specialised in bacteriology and immunology. His discovery of the antibiotic properties of penicillin spawned the pharmaceutical industry and freed mankind of diseases that had previously been fatal. Fleming followed his older brother Tom into the medical profession, enrolling at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington for his education in 1903. Upon qualifying with distinction in 1906 he could have become a surgeon but chose to begin research with Sir Almroth Wright, a pioneer in vaccine… (more…)