Scientists

Swiss stamp issued in 1971 honoring Alexandre Emile Jean Yersin, a Swiss bacteriologist who discovered the organism that causes bubonic and pneumonic plague, and which was eventually named after him: Yersinia pestis. As a microbiologist myself, I have often looked for, and have once or twice handled this organism

Another Swiss stamp from the same set as the Yersin stamp, and featuring another bacteriologist: Robert Koch, who by formulating what became known as Koch's postulates first proved the relationship between bacteria and specific diseases that they cause. He mainly worked with the organism that causes tuberculosis. It's probably not realized by the general public, at least in the developed world, but TB is one of the most prevalent infectious agents in the world with well over a billion people carrying the organism, although they may not have the active disease.

A Danish stamp commemorating Danish physicist Niels Bohr , 1885-1962 who made important contributions to the knowledge of atomic structure and quantum theory


Bohr was also depicted on a set of 2 Danish stamps shortly after he died, but I prefer this one

Josep Trueta I Raspall (Barcelona, 1897 - 1977) was a Catalan MD. Being a democrat and Catalan patriot, he was forced by Franco's dictatorship into exile to England after the 1936/39 War, during which he had been the chief of Barcelona's trauma services. During World War II, he helped to organize medical emergency services. His use of a new plaster cast method for the treatment of open wounds and fractures helped save a great number of lives during several wars.

Trueta formed part of a group of Catalans exiled in the United Kingdom who denounced the situation of Catalonia under Franco's regime. He wrote The Spirit of Catalonia, a book aimed at explaining Catalan history to English-speaking society.

He joined the team run by Florey and Chain that developed penicillin in Oxford, and held the first live animal to be injected with the revolutionary antibiotic.

from 1949 to 1966 he was the third Nuffield Professor of Orthopaedics at the University of Oxford and directed the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. On his retirement in 1966, he returned to Catalonia.
Spanish gov. pressure prevented him of winning the Nobel Price.

The main hospital of Girona was named in his honour, as are streets in many towns across Catalonia. Every year the government of Catalonia awards Trueta medals and plaques to professionals and institutions that excel in the Catalan medical field.

Saving hides: Here are images of the two stamps in a set commemorating the centenary of the identification in 1873 of the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae as the causative agent of leprosy by Norwegian physician Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen (1841-1912), designed and engraved by French artist Jacques Combet (1920-1993), and issued by Dahomey (now Benin) on May 14, 1973, Scott Nos. 301 & 302.

- nethryk

Good chemistry: Here is an image of an airmail stamp featuring a portrait of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), a French biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, designed and engraved by French artist Jacques Combet (1920-1993), and issued by Dahomey (now Benin) on November 30, 1972 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Pasteur's birth, Scott No. C173, plus an image of a painting entitled "Louis Pasteur in his laboratory" (1885) by Finnish artist Albert Edelfelt (1854-1905).

- nethryk

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Ádám Politzer (1835-1920), a Hungarian and Austrian physician and one of the pioneers and founders of otology (the study of the anatomy and diseases of the ear), designed by Adalbert Pilch, engraved by Rudolf Toth, and issued by Austria on September 12, 1985 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the medical scientist's birth, Scott No. 1326, plus an image of the photograph of Dr. Politzer which was the model for this stamp's design.

- nethryk

Stamp honoring British physician Edward Jenner (1749-1823) who noticed that milkmaids who developed a mild infection called cowpox seemed to be immune to the much more virulent and usually deadly disease of smallpox. He developed a method of inoculating patients with some of the material from cowpox and thus was the first serious proponent of what came to be known as vaccination (from the Latin word "vaccus" for cow). Jenner is credited by some sources as the person who has saved more lives than any other human in history.

Ignaz Semmelweis was a Hungarian surgeon, practicing in a hospital in Vienna in the 1840's. He noticed that many of the woman who had just given birth died of puerperal fever (or childbed fever),but the rate of death was much lower in women who had been attended by midwives than those who had been attended by male surgeons. He attributed this high mortality rate to some invisible substance that was being carried by the hands of the males, and insisted that they wash their hands in a calcium hypochlorite solution. At first they did and the death rate plummeted, but then they started to resent and ridicule his ideas. The death rate went up again, and it would be about 40 more years before the germ theory of disease was accepted and Semmelweis was vindicated, but not before dying in an insane asylum he had been committed to by his colleagues who thought he was crazy. So,even though he was not technically a microbiologist (my own profession) he did a great deal to prove the connection between bacteria (in this case, Streptococcus pyogenes) and disease

Here is an image of a stamp depicting Ibn al-Jazzar (895-979), an influential Tunisian Muslim Arab physician famous for his writings on Islamic medicine, and known in Europe by his Latinized name, "Algizar," designed by Ali Bellagha (1924-2006), printed by photogravure, and issued by Tunisia on May 15, 1984, Scott No. 849.

- nethryk

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of English physician William Harvey (1578-1657), the first known physician to describe completely, and in detail, the systemic circulation of blood in the human body, designed by Gherman Alexeyvich Komlev (1933-2000), printed by lithography, and issued by Russia (USSR) on July 25, 1978 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Harvey's birth, Scott No. 4677, Zagorski No. 4798.

- nethryk

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Johann Florian Heller (1813-1871), an Austrian chemist who was one of the founders of clinical chemistry, designed by Adalbert Pilch (1917-2004), engraved by Rudolf Toth (1918-2009), and issued by Austria on April 31, 1981, Scott No. 1183 to publicize the XI International Congress of Clinical Chemistry, held in Vienna, August 30-September 5, 1981, plus an image of the lithograph of a photographic portrait of Johann Florian Heller which was the model for this stamp's design.

- nethryk

Here are images of the two stamps in a set commemorating the 1000th anniversary of the birth of Persian Muslim physician, astronomer and polymath Ibn Sina (c. 980-1037), best known in the West as Avicenna, designed and engraved by French artist René Quillivic (1925-2016), and issued by Mali on May 12, 1980, Scott Nos. 373 & 374.

- nethryk

Portrait of Avicenna, medicinal plants and ancient medical instruments.


Avicenna teaching students, designed after a 12th century Persian miniature.

Here is an image of an airmail stamp featuring a portrait of Federico Lleras Acosta (1877-1938 ), a Colombian veterinarian and bacteriologist who was one of the creators of the leprosy vaccine, printed by lithography, and issued by Colombia on September 27, 1977 to commemorate the scientist's birth centenary, Scott No. 653, plus an image of a bronze bust (c. 1970) of Federico Lleras Acosta by Colombian painter and sculptor Luis Pinto Maldonado (1906-1997).

- nethryk

Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818-1865), a Hungarian physician and scientist, best known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures, designed by Sándor Légrády (1906-1987), printed by photogravure, and issued by Hungary on August 20, 1965 to commemorate the centenary of the scientist's death, Scott No. 1694, plus an image of a photograph of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis which may have been (in mirror-image) a model for this stamp's design.

- nethryk