René Laennec

René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (17 February 1781 to 13 August 1826) was a French medical doctor and musician, born in Quimper in Brittany. His skill at carving his own wooden flutes led him to invent the stethoscope in 1816 while he was working at the Hôpital Necker, and he pioneered its use in diagnosing various chest conditions. He studied medicine at the University of Paris under Dupuytren and Jean-Nicolas Corvisart-Desmarets, became a lecturer at the Collège de France in 1822 and professor of medicine in 1823, and later headed the medical clinic at the Hôpital de la Charité. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 45.