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Galen

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Scientist

The Resume

    (September 129-216)
    Born in Bergama, Turkey
    Birth name was Claudius Galenus
    Known as Galen of Pergamum
    Arguably the greatest physician of Ancient Rome
    Wrote over 120 Treatises on subjects as diverse as Physiology, Hygiene, Aetiology, Semeiotics, Pharmacy, Blood letting, and Therapeutics

Why he might be annoying:

    He is responsible for many of the backwards medical practices of the Dark Ages (which went uncorrected until the Age of Enlightenment).
    He was spoiled as a child.
    He became a physician because his father had a dream in which Asclepius came to him in a dream telling him to have his son study medicine.
    He claimed that excessive thinking by a woman did harm to her internal organs, making her unable to bear children.
    A majority of his 80 medical treastises have been lost.
    He was criticized for being egotistical and arrogant.
    His writings and treatises are full of long-winded refutations of his rivals.
    The Antonine Plague of 165-180 is named for him.
    He experimented in vivisection of animals.
    He discovered that the kidney produced urine by forcing the kidney of a live ape to swell (he also cut various spinal/nerve roots until he found out which organs/muscles they controlled).

Why he might not be annoying:

    In his 'Divine Comedy,' Dante places him in the outermost circle of Hell as one of the 'virtuous pagans' (along with Homer, Socrates, and Hippocrates - not bad company).
    He pioneered the use of medical prognosis.
    He was the originator of the pulse diagnosis.
    He was deeply involved in the selections of the roots and herbs used to produce his medicines.
    He developed what are now known as 'Galenic degrees,' which enable physicians and pharmacists to estimate the effects of a medicinal substance.
    He developed the medical formula, Theriac, which was in high demand even into the late 19th Century.
    He expanded upon humoral physiology and pathology developed first by Hippocrates.
    His knowledge of smallpox's symptoms enabled him to prevent an already high mortality rate from rising during the Antonine Plague.
    He was the first physician to make the distinction between venous and arterial blood.
    His methods to treat cataracts were actually quite modern.
    Its amazing he got as much as he did right in the first place, considering how little was known at the time (its not his fault his work wasn't expanded on).

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 22 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 24 Votes: 45.83% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 26 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 42 Votes: 50.0% Annoying