1781-1826

French Physician and Inventor

In 1816 René Laënnec invented the stethoscope. His 1819 book about his use of this instrument inaugurated the modern era of diagnosing chest, heart, and lung diseases accurately and scientifically.

Laënnec was born in Quimper, a small town on the seacoast of West Brittany, France. He was baptized "Théophile-René-Marie-Hyacinthe Laënnec," but was known professionally as either "René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laënnec," which appears on his tombstone, or simply "R.-T.-H. Laënnec."

Laënnec's mother died of tuberculosis when he was five. His father had little interest in his children and in 1788 sent him to live with his uncle Guillaume, a prominent physician in Nantes. Laënnec studied hard and aimed to become an engineer, but the French Revolution violently interrupted his education. Especially in...