René Théophile Hyacinthe Laennec, known as the father of modern knowledge of pulmonary disease, is considered by many as one of the greatest clinicians of all time. He made a major contribution to medical science by introducing a method of diagnosing diseases called auscultation. Auscultation involves listening to and identifying various sounds made by different body structures. Laennec's specialty was chest diseases. Initially, his diagnostic method involved placing his ear to the chest of his patient. Ultimately, it led him to inventing the stethoscope, which he called the "chest examiner."

Although he is most famous for this work, he was the first person to describe the rare disease tuberculosis verrucosa cutis (tuberculosis of the skin), and gave cirrhosis its name from the Greek word kirrhos kirrhos, meaning tawny. The term "Laennec's cirrhosis" is still used to describe alcoholic liver cirrhosis. He was also a pioneer...