George Papanicolaou was a physician and researcher who was associated with the Cornell University school of medicine for forty-eight years. While studying microscopic slides of cells that had been cast off (exfoliated) in body fluids of laboratory animals and humans, he recognized the presence of abnormal cancer cells. The discovery led to the famous test that bears the first syllable of his last name, the Pap test. He is recognized by his colleagues as the father of modern cytology.

George Nicholas Papanicolaou was born on May 13, 1883, in Coumi, Greece, to Nicholas (a physician) and Mary Critsutas Papanicolaou. He received an M.D. degree from the University of Athens in 1904 and a Ph.D. from the University of Munich in 1910. He married Mary A. Mavroyeni on September 15, 1910. His first position was as a physiologist for an expedition of the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco for one year. In 1912, during the...