Oliver Wendell Holmes, American Physician and Poet

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. His most famous prose works are the Breakfast-Table series, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). He is recognized as an important medical reformer. He lectured on pathology, taught the use of microscopes and supervised dissections of cadavers. He often criticized traditional medical practices. In 1843, Holmes published The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever in which he stated that the cause of puerperal fever, a deadly infection contracted by women during or shortly after childbirth, stems from patient to patient contact via their physicians which predated germ theory. He coined the word anesthesia.

1809 • 1894 • AMERICA • AMERICANO • ANESTESIA • ARTE • AUTOR • COLOR • COLORIDO • DIBUJO • DOCTOR • ESCRITOR • ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA • FAMOSA • FAMOSO • FIGURA • GENTE • HISTORIA • HISTORICO • HOMBRE • HOMBRES • ILUSTRACION • IMPORTANTE • MASCULINO • MEDICINA • MEDICINAL • MEDICO • MEJORA • MEJORAR • OBRA DE ARTE • PERSONA • PERSONALIDAD • PERSONALIDADES • POETA • PROFESOR UNIVERSITARIO • PROFESOR • REFORMADORA • RETRATO DE HOMBRE • S. XIX • SIGLO XIX • SIGLO