René Laennec, born in 1781, was a French doctor and inventor. In 1816, he invented the very first stethoscope and made a hugely important contribution to modern medicine. He is also known as the father of clinical auscultation. But how he invented it has an interesting story!
At that time, auscultation was done by putting one’s ear against the patient’s chest, which was not only inadequate in the case of corpulent patients but also embarrassing when it came to examining female patients. When he was examining a young woman complaining of heart problems, he thought it was improper to place his ear on her chest.
He rolled a piece of paper into a tube and pressed it to her chest, and he was able to hear the heartbeats clearly – even more clearly and distinctly than he had ever been able to do by the immediate application of the ear.
He published the findings in 1819. His new instrument, made of wood, was given the name stethoscope, deriving from the Greek words stethos (chest) and skopos (examination). Laennec’s original stethoscope consisted of a hollow tube of wood that was 3.5 cm (1.4 inches) in diameter and 25 cm (10 inches) long, and it transmitted sound to only one ear.
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