Hippocrates was a Greek physician from the 5th century BC. Why is he famous? Born on the Greek island of Kos he became a famous physician and teacher of medicine. He taught and practised medicine throughout his life, travelling as far as Thessaly, Thrace (Bulgaria) and the Sea of Marmara. Hippocrates is credited with being the first physician to reject superstitions and beliefs that claimed supernatural or divine forces caused illness. He separated the discipline of medicine from religion, believing and arguing that disease was not a punishment inflicted by the gods but rather the product of environmental factors, diet and living habits Hippocrates and his followers were the first to describe many diseases and medical conditions. He is given credit for the first description of clubbing of the fingers, an important diagnostic sign in chronic suppurative lung disease, lung cancer and cyanotic heart disease. For this reason, clubbed fingers are sometimes referred to as "Hippocratic fingers". Hippocrates began to categorize illnesses as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic, and use terms such as, "exacerbation, relapse, resolution, crisis, paroxysm, peak, and convalescence." Hippocrates was the first documented chest surgeon and his teachings remain relevant to present-day students of pulmonary medicine and surgery. Hippocrates is considered the father of medicine and is widely believed to have written the Hippocratic Oath a version of which is still taken by doctors today. Source
