Scientific Biography:
Personal and Scientific Legacy:
the story of the scientist's work
what does their work mean
for us today?
- When Snow was 18, under the apprenticeship of Dr. Hardcastle, he helped treat an epidemic of cholera that broke out in London. By the time it ended in 1832 it killed fifty thousand people.
- Snow made the first scientific studies of the effects of anesthetics. He experimented with ether, and designed a device to administer the gas safely. He was highly praised for his work and personally administered anesthetics to Queen Victoria during the births of her eighth and ninth children.
- John Snow was considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology, which is the study of epidemic disease, including its spread, causes and method of control.
- During the second outbreak of cholera Snow was recognized for identifying the source of the outbreak. His intensive studies contradicted the previous ideas that cholera was spread by poisonous gases. He believed it was spread by contaminated water and in 1849 published an essay in order to spread the word.
- Snow was know as the leading advocate of both anesthesia and hygiene in his practice of medicine.
- For better hygiene and help lower the spread of cholera he suggested to boil your drinking water before you drink it to avoid infection.
- John Snow is widely considered to be the father of epidemiology, for his persistent efforts to determine how cholera was spread and for the statistical and mapping methods he initiated.
- His studies were not recognized as evidence for the germ theory of diseases until after his death in 1858 at the age of 45.
Dr. John Snow
Personal Biography:
Book Source: The Grolier Library of Science, Biographies Volume 9 Published 1997, Editor - John Daintith
Internet Sources: (1) UCLA.edu - Old News 16(8), 8-10, May & June, 2005.
(2) ScienceMuseum.org C Lawrence, 'Cholera, chloroform and the science of medicine: a life of John Snow', Medical History, 48/4 (2004), pp 531-532
the story of the scientist's
life
- John Snow was born in 1813, in York, England to a coal-yard laborer.
- His parents were William and Francis Snow. Snow was the oldest of 5 brothers and 3 sisters.
- Snow was considered exceptionally bright, so he attended a private school in York.
- Snow remained a bachelor.
- Even from an early age Snow planned to attend medical school and at age 14 he shadowed a surgeon Dr. William Hardcastle.
- In 1836 Snow enrolled at the Great Windmill Street School of Medicine in London.
- Snow studied at Westminster Hospital, receiving his MD from the University of London in 1844.
Biography of Dr. John Snow