Famous 19th Century American Physicians

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 1 
Elizabeth Blackwell
(First Woman Medical Graduate)
Elizabeth Blackwell
4
Birthdate: February 3, 1821
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Bristol
Died: May 31, 1910
 2 
John Harvey Kellogg
(Physician, Nutritionist and Director of the ‘Battle Creek Sanitarium’)
John Harvey Kellogg
7
Birthdate: February 26, 1852
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Tyrone Township, Michigan, United States
Died: December 14, 1943
Physician, nutritionist, and businessman John Harvey Kellogg served as the director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, which was a combination of a European spa, a hydrotherapy center, a hospital, and a hotel. He believed in biologic living. However, he is best remembered as the inventor of corn flakes.
 3 
Harvey Cushing
(American Neurosurgeon, Pathologist, Writer and the First Person to Describe Cushing’s Disease)
Harvey Cushing
3
Birthdate: April 8, 1869
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Died: October 7, 1939
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 4 
J. Marion Sims
(Surgeon)
J. Marion Sims
5
Birthdate: January 25, 1813
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Lancaster County, South Carolina, United States
Died: November 13, 1883

Known as The Father of Modern Gynaecology, J. Marion Sims is remembered for developing a surgical method to deal with vesicovaginal fistula, a childbirth-related complication. However, since his experiments were conducted on Black slave-women, without anesthesia, they were later deemed unethical. He had also headed the American Gynecological Society.

 5 
Mary Edwards Walker
(Surgeon, Feminist, Activist)
Mary Edwards Walker
4
Birthdate: November 26, 1832
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Oswego
Died: February 21, 1919

Mary Edwards Walker, or Dr. Mary Walker, was the only female surgeon who served injured soldiers during the American Civil War. A dress reform supporter, she believed women should value comfort more than tradition when it came to clothes. She was also the first and only Medal of Honor winner.

 6 
Samuel Mudd
(Physician, Farmer, Politician)
Samuel Mudd
4
Birthdate: December 20, 1833
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Charles County
Died: January 10, 1883
 7 
William Stewart Halsted
(Surgeon)
William Stewart Halsted
3
Birthdate: September 23, 1852
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: New York City
Died: September 7, 1922

William Stewart Halsted was the man behind the first American surgical school at the Johns Hopkins University. The master surgeon made a number of contributions to medical science, including the introduction of mastectomy and aseptic surgical procedures. He often injected cocaine into his body to develop anesthesia.

 8 
Andrew Taylor Still
3
Birthdate: August 6, 1828
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Lee County
Died: December 12, 1917
 9 
Walter Reed
(U.S. Army Physician Who Led a Team Which Confirmed That Yellow Fever Gets Transmitted By a Mosquito)
Walter Reed
3
Birthdate: September 13, 1851
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Belroi, Virginia, United States
Died: November 22, 1902

Walter Reed was a U.S. Army physician best remembered for leading a team which confirmed that yellow fever gets transmitted by a mosquito rather than by direct contact. His work went a long way in the fight against yellow fever.

 10 
Daniel Hale Williams
3
Birthdate: January 18, 1856
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: August 4, 1931

Daniel Hale Williams was a general surgeon known for performing the first documented, successful pericardium surgery in the US in 1893. Born to interracial parents, he faced numerous struggles in his journey to become a physician. He later founded the first non-segregated hospital in the United States, Chicago's Provident Hospital. He also founded a nursing school for African Americans. 

 11 
William Chester Minor
(American Army Surgeon Known for Contributions to the Oxford English Dictionary)
William Chester Minor
4
Birthdate: June 22, 1834
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Sri Lanka
Died: March 26, 1920

William Chester Minor was an army surgeon and lexicographical researcher. He studied at Yale Medical School and earned a medical degree with a specialization in comparative anatomy. He then became an army surgeon. He was later committed to a London psychiatric hospital for many years as he suffered from paranoid delusions. He became a lexicographical researcher while incarcerated.  

 12 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
(Physician & Poet)
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
3
Birthdate: August 29, 1809
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Died: October 7, 1894
 13 
Max Gerson
(Physician)
Max Gerson
4
Birthdate: October 18, 1881
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: WÄ…growiec
Died: March 8, 1959

German-American physician Max Gerson was the proponent of the Gerson Therapy, which began as a diet-based treatment for migraine but ended up being used by him as a treatment for tuberculosis and cancer. Though Gerson died of pneumonia, there was an alternate theory that stated he had been murdered.

 14 
Martin Delany
(Journalist)
Martin Delany
3
Birthdate: May 6, 1812
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Charles Town, Virginia, United States
Died: January 24, 1885
 15 
Ephraim McDowell
(American Physician and Pioneer Surgeon Known for First Successful Ovariotomy)
Ephraim McDowell
3
Birthdate: November 11, 1771
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Rockbridge County, Virginia, United States
Died: June 25, 1830

Considered the founder of operative gynecology, Ephraim McDowell was also the first person to perfect lithotomy, a surgical technique for removing stones obstructing urinary bladder. He came to limelight when he successfully removed a 20-pound tumor from Jane Todd Crawford’s ovary, later performing twelve more ovariotomies, out of which seven were successful, thus demonstrating the viability of elective abdominal surgery.

 16 
Leonard Wood
(Politician, Military personnel)
Leonard Wood
0
Birthdate: October 9, 1860
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Winchester, New Hampshire, United States
Died: August 7, 1927
 17 
William Beaumont
(American Surgeon and the First Person to Observe and Study Human Digestion as It Occurs in the Stomach)
William Beaumont
3
Birthdate: November 21, 1785
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Lebanon, Connecticut, United States
Died: April 25, 1853

Nineteenth-century U.S. Army surgeon William Beaumont pioneered the study of human digestion. While treating a person named Alexis St. Martin, who had been near-fatally shot in the stomach, Beaumont discovered a lot of gastric processes and later published them as a treatise on the physiology of digestion.

 18 
Frederick Cook
(American Explorer, Physician, and Ethnographer)
Frederick Cook
3
Birthdate: June 10, 1865
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Hortonville, New York, United States
Died: August 5, 1940

Apart from being a qualified physician, Frederick Cook was also a passionate explorer. He was initially the surgeon on explorer Robert E. Peary’s team. He later created controversy by conflicting with Peary, saying it was him and not Peary who had first explored the North Pole, though his claims were denounced.

 19 
Gisella Perl
(Gynecologist)
Gisella Perl
3
Birthdate: December 10, 1907
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Sighetu Marmației, Romania
Died: December 16, 1988
 20 
Fredric Wertham
(Psychologist, Psychiatrist)
Fredric Wertham
3
Birthdate: March 20, 1895
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: New York City
Died: November 18, 1981
 21 
John Gorrie
(Physician)
John Gorrie
3
Birthdate: October 3, 1803
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Nevis, Saint Kitts and Nevis
Died: June 29, 1855
 22 
Alan L. Hart
(Physician)
Alan L. Hart
3
Birthdate: October 4, 1890
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Coffey County, Kansas, United States
Died: July 1, 1962
 23 
William Worrall Mayo
(Chemist, Politician, Gynaecologist, Editor)
William Worrall Mayo
3
Birthdate: May 31, 1819
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Salford
Died: March 6, 1911

Part of the renowned Mayo family of doctors of the U.S., William Worrall Mayo played a key role in establishing the Mayo Clinic. He and his two sons built the St. Mary’s Hospital, along with the Sisters of St. Francis, after the deadly tornado of 1883 destroyed Rochester.

 24 
William James Mayo
(Physician and Surgeon)
William James Mayo
3
Birthdate: June 29, 1861
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Le Sueur
Died: July 28, 1939

Physician and surgeon William James Mayo is best-known as a principal co-founder of the non-profit American academic medical center Mayo Clinic. Son of British-American medical-doctor and chemist William Worrall Mayo, William James and his brother, Charles Horace Mayo, joined the sole-proprietorship medical practice of their father, which developed under them and other doctors intothe Mayo Clinic.

 25 
William T. G. Morton
(Dentist)
William T. G. Morton
4
Birthdate: August 9, 1819
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Charlton, Massachusetts, United States
Died: July 15, 1868
 26 
Howard Atwood Kelly
(Surgeon, Writer, Gynaecologist, University teacher)
Howard Atwood Kelly
3
Birthdate: February 20, 1858
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Camden
Died: January 12, 1943

American obstetrician/gynaecologist and professor Howard Atwood Kelly was among the four outstanding physicians, known as the Big Four, along with William Welch, William Halsted and William Osler, who became founding professors at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Kelly established gynaecology as a specialty, and developed a systematic approach to gynaecological medicine and surgery as well as new surgical techniques and devices.

 27 
Anna Howard Shaw
(Leader of the women's suffrage movement in the United States.)
Anna Howard Shaw
3
Birthdate: February 14, 1847
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Newcastle-on-Tyne, England
Died: July 2, 1919
 28 
Charles Horace Mayo
5
Birthdate: July 19, 1865
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Rochester
Died: May 26, 1939

Part of the Mayo medical family of the U.S., Charles Horace Mayo had established the Mayo Clinic with his brother William James Mayo and others. He specialized in varied medical fields, mastering neurosurgery, goitre surgery, cataract operations, and other procedures. He later served the U.S. Army surgical team.

 29 
Maxwell Maltz
(Physician, Writer, Playwright)
Maxwell Maltz
3
Birthdate: March 10, 1889
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States
Died: April 7, 1975
 30 
Horace Wells
(Dentist)
Horace Wells
3
Birthdate: January 21, 1815
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Hartford, Vermont, United States
Died: January 24, 1848
 31 
Marcus Whitman
(Physician)
Marcus Whitman
3
Birthdate: September 4, 1802
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Rushville, New York, United States
Died: November 29, 1847
 32 
Alice Hamilton
(Toxicologist, Pathologist, University teacher, Physician)
Alice Hamilton
2
Birthdate: February 27, 1869
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Fort Wayne
Died: September 22, 1970
 33 
Sara Josephine Baker
(Physician)
Sara Josephine Baker
3
Birthdate: November 15, 1873
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Poughkeepsie
Died: February 22, 1945
 34 
Jacob L. Moreno
(Psychiatrist)
Jacob L. Moreno
2
Birthdate: May 18, 1889
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Bucharest
Died: May 14, 1974

Romanian-American psychiatrist Jacob L. Moreno is best remembered for introducing the concept of psychodrama, consisting of role-play exercises and dramatizations by patients, as a therapeutic method to cure mental ailments. He also pioneered group psychotherapy, introduced the study of social networks, and coined the terms sociometry and sociatry.

 35 
Otto Loewi
(American Pharmacologist and Psychobiologist)
Otto Loewi
2
Birthdate: June 3, 1873
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Frankfurt, Germany
Died: December 25, 1961

Otto Loewi was a German-born American psycho-biologist and pharmacologist, whose research on neurology proved that chemicals were involved in the transmission of nerve impulses. Working with Sir Henry Dale, he established the role of acetylcholine as an endogenous neurotransmitter, co-winning the Nobel Prize for it. Later, he worked on diabetes and devised Loewi’s test for the detection of pancreatic disease.

 36 
Silas Weir Mitchell
(American Physician Known for His Discovery of 'Causalgia' And 'Erythromelalgia')
Silas Weir Mitchell
2
Birthdate: February 15, 1829
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: January 4, 1914

A pioneer of medical neurology, Silas Weir Mitchell not only discovered the causalgia and erythromelalgia but also penned more than 100 monographs on various medical treatments. A talented author, he also penned children’s stories, poems, and novels, such as Roland Blake. He also developed rest cure during the American Civil War.

 37 
Joel Roberts Poinsett
(15th US Secretary of War (1837 – 1841))
Joel Roberts Poinsett
2
Birthdate: March 2, 1779
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Charleston, South Carolina, United States
Died: December 12, 1851

Joel Roberts Poinsett was an American diplomat, physician, and slave owner. He served as the United States Minister to Mexico from 1 June 1825 to 17 October 1829. He also served as the 15th US Secretary of War from 7 March 1837 to 4 March 1841. 

 38 
William Thornton
(British-American Physician, Inventor, Painter and Architect Who Designed the 'United States Capitol')
William Thornton
2
Birthdate: May 20, 1759
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Jost van Dyke, British Virgin Islands, England
Died: March 28, 1828

British-American William Thornton was initially trained in medicine and that is when he began drawing and sketching as part of his medical notes. He later won a contest for the design of the Library Company of Philadelphia's new hall. He also designed the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

 39 
Crawford Long
(American Surgeon and Pharmacist Best Known for His First Use of Inhaled 'Sulfuric Ether' as an Anesthetic)
Crawford Long
2
Birthdate: November 1, 1815
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Danielsville, Georgia, United States
Died: June 16, 1878

American surgeon and pharmacist Crawford Long is best-known as the inventor of modern anaesthetics in the West. Long is believed to be the first to apply inhaled sulfuric ether as a general anaesthesia. He applied it for the first time in 1842 for removing a tumour from a patient’s neck and went on to perform several other surgeries using ether anaesthetic.

 40 
James McHenry
(Surgeon)
James McHenry
2
Birthdate: November 16, 1753
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Ballymena, Ireland
Died: May 3, 1816

Scotch-Irish American military-surgeon and politician James McHenry, who served as the 3rd United States Secretary of War, is noted as a signer of the United States Constitution from Maryland. He was elected a delegate to Maryland State Convention of 1788. He was instrumental in reorganizing the United States Army into four regiments and established the United States Department of the Navy.

 41 
Samuel Gridley Howe
(Physician)
Samuel Gridley Howe
2
Birthdate: November 10, 1801
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Died: January 9, 1876
 42 
William C. Gorgas
(United States Army Physician and 22nd Surgeon General of the U.S. Army)
William C. Gorgas
2
Birthdate: October 3, 1854
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Toulminville, Alabama, United States
Died: July 3, 1920

U.S. Army physician William C. Gorgas was in charge of the sanitation of Panama and successfully eradicated both malaria and yellow fever from the zone, thus paving the way for the construction of the Panama Canal. He was later made part of the Hall of Fame For Great Americans.

 43 
Leila Denmark
(Pediatrician, Author)
Leila Denmark
2
Birthdate: February 1, 1898
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Portal
Died: April 1, 2012

Pediatrician Leila Denmark made headlines when she retired at age 103, after a career spanning over seven decades. She was the oldest practicing pediatrician in the world and the first woman pediatrician from Georgia. She was also the third-oldest living person in the U.S. when she died.

 44 
Paschal Beverly Randolph
(Physician, Occultist)
Paschal Beverly Randolph
0
Birthdate: October 8, 1825
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States
Died: July 29, 1875
 45 
Maja Einstein
(Romanist)
Maja Einstein
2
Birthdate: November 18, 1881
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Munich, Germany
Died: June 25, 1951

Maja Einstein is remembered as Albert Einstein’s younger sister and only sibling. After acquiring a Ph.D. in romance languages and literature from Bern, Switzerland, she got married. However, at the beginning of World War II, she fled to the U.S. and remained estranged from her husband till her death.

 46 
Francis Davis Millet
(Painter, sculptor)
Francis Davis Millet
0
Birthdate: November 3, 1848
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, United States
Died: April 15, 1912
 47 
William Williams Keen
(American Physician and the First Brain Surgeon in the United States)
William Williams Keen
2
Birthdate: January 19, 1837
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: June 7, 1932

William Williams Keen pioneered brain surgery in the U.S. Working on neurological injuries as an army surgeon, he discovered many previously unknown neurological ailments. He was also part of a secret operation on a yacht to remove a tumor from the upper jaw of U.S. president Grover Cleveland.

 48 
David Bushnell
(Inventor)
David Bushnell
2
Birthdate: August 30, 1740
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Connecticut, United States
Died: 1824 AD
 49 
Karl Augustus Menninger
Karl Augustus Menninger
3
Birthdate: July 22, 1893
Sun Sign: Cancer
Died: July 18, 1990
 50 
William H. Welch
(Physician)
William H. Welch
2
Birthdate: April 8, 1850
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Norfolk Historic District, Connecticut, United States
Died: April 30, 1934