Profile of the Day: Rene Laennec

On this day in 1781, French doctor René Laennec was born in Quimper, France. Considered one of the greatest physicians in history, Laennec made many significant contributions to the world of medicine, most notably his invention of the stethoscope.

Image: René Laennec / Wikimedia Commons

As a boy, René Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec was sent to live with his uncle, Guillaume-François Laennec, after the death of his mother. His uncle was the dean of medicine at the University of Nantes and under his tutelage, Laennec began his studies in the field. A gifted student, Laennec studied under some of the most famous physicians of the time.

Before the invention of the stethoscope, a doctor would place an ear directly on a person’s chest to listen to the lungs. However, while treating a female patient, Laennec found himself embarrassed to place his head on her chest. He improvised by rolling a piece of paper into a tube and placed it on her chest to listen. To his surprise, he found that the sound was greatly amplified. With this new revelation, Laennec set out to create a device made of a hallow wooden cylinder that could be pressed to a person’s chest. Laennec named his groundbreaking device the stethoscope. The instrument quickly gained popularity throughout the medical community. Although today’s stethoscope looks vastly different, the instrument has become standard for doctors all around the world.

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