Famous Doctors & Physicians A-Z


Famous Doctors & Physicians List A to Z

  • ADDucation’s list of famous doctors and physicians was last updated 04 Sep 2023.

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Famous Doctors Born Died Country Fields + Awards General Knowledge Facts & Trivia About Famous Doctors and Physicians
Avicenna 980 1037 🇮🇷 Iran Medicine and philosophy. Avicenna was a child prodigy of the Middle Ages. He was a doctor, physician, mathematician, astronomer, chemist, theologian, geologist, lawyer, inventor and also wrote poetry. Avicenna led a life made for the movies and wrote two encyclopedias of medicine on diagnoses, treatments, prevention, hygiene, medicinal plants, surgery, cosmetics and drugs.
Behring, Emil von 1854 1917 🇩🇪 Germany Medicine, physiology and immunology. Emil von Behring was a student of Robert Koch’s. He found an antitoxin healing agent against diphtheria in the form of iodine trichloride. Treated patients were subsequently immune against diphtheria. Behring then used their blood to produce a serum.
Da Vinci, Leonardo 1452 1519 🇮🇹 Italy Medicine, physics and astronomy. Leonardo da Vinci was not only an artistic genius but also a doctor, architect, astronomer and engineer. His irrepressible curiosity drove him to explore (almost) everything and is one of the best known famous scientists. Da Vinci studied humankind and nature and drew hundreds of anatomical drawings. He developed hydraulics, supervised the construction of canals, locks and aqueducts, and is considered the inventor of portable bridges, flamethrowers, tanks, submarines, parachutes as well as tools such as levers, saws, heating and lighting systems.
Ehrlich, Paul 1854 1915 🇩🇪 Germany Medicine. Nobel Prize 1908. Paul Ehrlich was the founder of chemotherapy and researcher into immunity and serum therapy. He examined corpuscles and in his theory of “side-chains” discovered the formation of antibodies. Paul Ehrlich also found the cause of sleeping sickness and syphilis as well as the first effective agent “Salvarsan” against syphilis.
Empedocles c495 BC c435 BC 🇬🇷 Greece Medicine and biology. Empedocles was the founder of the four-element doctrine. The four elements (fire, air, water, earth) make everything in the world. Empedocles described the flow of blood to and from the heart and recognized that skin can breathe.
Fleming, Alexander 1881 1955 🇬🇧 United Kingdom Bacteriology.  Nobel Prize 1945. Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the first ever antibiotic by accident in 1928. Returning from holiday he discovered a bacteria-destroying fungus “penicillin” in Petri dishes he’d left lying around. This became an effective remedy for many infections. Fleming shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Ernst Boris Chain and Howard Florey.
Galen of Pergamon c129 c199 🇬🇷 Greece Medicine. Galen was probably the first sports physician of all time. He viewed body and soul as a whole (the origin of psychoanalysis). He wrote 22 books about the organism, pathology, physiology, treatment and pharmacology.
Gilbert, William 1540 1603 🇬🇧 United Kingdom Physics and medicine William Gilbert realized the Earth itself is magnetic and that our planet has two (and not, as originally thought one) magnetic poles. Born in Colchester, Essex, England. Gilbert investigated electricity and developed the first electroscope for measuring electricity.
Helmholtz, Hermann von 1821 1894 🇩🇪 Germany Physics and medicine. Helmholtz examined the fermentation, putrefaction and heat production of living beings. In his book on the Conservation of energy (1847) he showed energy can be transformed, but never lost.
Herophilos of Chalcedon c330 BC c255 BC 🇬🇷 Greece Medicine. Herophilos was the first to perform autopsies on people and animals. In doing so he discovered basic functions of the liver, spleen, intestines, heart, eyes, nerves, brain and bloodstream. Herophilos was also the first to distinguish veins from arteries.
Hippocrates c460 BC c370 BC 🇬🇷 Greece Medicine. Hippocrates is widely considered the father of western medicine. He looked for the causes of disease in lifestyle and diet rather than as punishment by the gods. He was effectively the first general practitioner, surgeon and dietician. Even today, doctors still swear the “Hippocratic Oath“. He used the first medications to be won from nature for healing purposes.
Jennings, Edward 1749 1823 🇬🇧 United Kingdom Virology and medicine. Brave enough to take risks, in 1796 he inoculated a healthy 8-year-old boy with (cow) smallpox pathogens against smallpox and was successful. Edward Jennings is, therefore, considered the father of the smallpox vaccination.
Koch, Robert 1843 1910 🇩🇪 Germany Medicine. Nobel Prize 1905. Through painstaking and lengthy (animal) experiments Robert Koch discovered the spores, bacteria and pathogens of cholera, malaria, tuberculosis, anthrax, sleeping sickness and the plague.
Levi-Montalcini, Rita 1909 2012 🇮🇹 Italy Medicine and neurology. Nobel Prize 1986. Rita Levi-Montalcini is best known for her work on nerve growth. Rita Levi-Montalcini won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her NGF (nerve growth factor) work. One of the greatest female scientists to live to be over 100. One of Italy’s most famous scientists.
Linnaeus, Carl 1707 1778 🇸🇪 Sweden Botany, zoology and medicine. The Swedish naturalist, botanist and zoologist Carl Linnaeus was the first to document and classify minerals, plants and animals into phyla, classes, order, family, genus and species. His major works include “Species Plantarum” (1752) and “Systema Naturae” (1758).
Nüsslein-Volhard, Christiane 1942  – 🇩🇪 Germany Medicine, genetics and embryology. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1991 and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995, together with Eric Wieschaus and Edward B. Lewis, for their research on the genetic control of embryonic development. One of the most famous doctors still alive today.
Paré, Ambroise 1510 1590 🇫🇷 France Medicine. Ambroise Paré is considered the founder of modern surgery. Paré found new ways of treating gunshot wounds, fractures and amputations (through ligation of the vessels). Among other things, Paré was surgeon to four French kings.
Ramón y Cajal, Santiago 1852 1934 🇪🇸 Spain Physics and medicine. Nobel Prize 1906. Santiago Ramón y Cajal was a brain researcher who discovered the central nervous system consists of billions of neurons which communicate via so-called synapses. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his insight in 1906. One of Spain’s most famous scientists.
Rhases, Abu Bakr Muham 844 926 🇮🇷 Iran Medicine. Rhases was one of the most famous doctors in the Middle Ages and also head of a hospital in Baghdad with much success in healing. He wrote more than 131 books about diseases and their treatment (including smallpox and measles) as well as two encyclopedias of Medicine. One of Iran’s most famous scientists.
Szent-Györgyi, Albert 1893 1986 🇭🇺 Hungary Biology and medicine. Nobel Prize 1937. Albert Szent-Györgyi researched vitamins and discovered vitamin C. He also worked on oxidation processes in living organisms, carbon metabolism and muscle biology. For his achievements he was awarded the 1937 Nobel Prize for Medicine. One of Hungary’s most famous scientists.
Tinbergen, Nikolaas 1907 1988 🇳🇱 Netherlands Biologist, zoology and medicine. Nobel Prize 1973. Nikolaas Tinbergen investigated animal behavior (especially fish and insects) and humans (childhood autism). He also wrote books including “The Study of Instinct” on behaviorism. Nikolaas Tinbergen was awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine.
Vesalius, Andreas 1515 1564 🇧🇪 Belgium Medicine. Vesalius conducted dissections as a student already and by the age of 23 was a professor of surgery. He wrote seven books about the anatomy of the human body and was later also the personal physician of Emperor Charles V of Spain.
Young, Thomas 1773 1829 🇬🇧 United Kingdom Physics and medicine. Thomas Young was gifted in languages and all-round genius. At aged two he spoke 10 languages fluently. He went on to research color theory, light waves, the tides, statics and technology. He also deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics, including the three scripts of the famous “Rosetta Stone“.

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