Famous Danish Physicians

Hans Christian Gram was a Danish bacteriologist best remembered for developing a technique called Gram stain, which is still used today to classify bacteria. He achieved international recognition after developing the Gram stain technique. Hans Christian Gram also served as a professor at the University of Copenhagen.

Grethe Rask was a Danish surgeon and physician. She worked in Zaïre, where she had set up her own hospital. In 1977, Rask returned to Denmark after developing symptoms of an unknown disease. Grethe Rask died in the same year and the disease was later identified as AIDS, making her one of the first non-Africans to have died of AIDS. 

Niels Ryberg Finsen was a Danish-Faroese scientist and physician. Finsen's method to treat diseases, such as lupus vulgaris, using concentrated light radiation, earned him the 1903 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology. Copenhagen University Hospital houses the famous Finsen Laboratory, which is named in his honor.

Thomas Bartholin was a Danish physician, theologian, and mathematician. He is best remembered for discovering the lymphatic system in human beings. Thomas Bartholin is also known as the first person to scientifically describe refrigeration anesthesia, which is widely used today, especially while performing major amputations of the limbs.    

Johannes Fibiger was a Danish physician who also worked at the University of Copenhagen as a professor of anatomical pathology. He is best remembered for winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1926. He won the prize for discovering a worm, which he named Spiroptera carcinoma. The roundworm was later correctly named Gongylonema neoplasticum.

Rasmus Bartholin was a Danish grammarian and physician. He is best remembered for his discovery of the double refraction of a ray of light by Iceland spar. Rasmus Bartholin is also remembered for his association with the University of Copenhagen where he served as a professor of Geometry and Medicine.