Corvisart, Jean Nicolas (1755–1821)
English Names
Jean Nicolas Corvisart
Original Names
Jean-Nicolas Corvisart-Desmarets (French)
Date, Country, and City of Birth
1755, France, Dricourt (Ardennes)
Date, Country, and City of Death
1821, Courbevoie
History of Life
Corvisart first studied at Sainte-Barbe Collège and afterwards at the Faculté de Médecine/Hôpital Hotel-Dieu, where he was a brilliant student. After graduation in 1782, his application for the Hôpital des Paroisse was denied since he refused to wear a “powered wig,” leading him to work at the Saint-Suplice Hôpital de la Charité (for the poor), under the famous physician Dubois de Rochefort, which he succeeded in 1788 as a Professor of Pathology and Physiology. Here he introduced various improvements, from teaching to building an anatomical amphitheater. In 1797 he was appointed as the Professor of Médecine Pratique at the Collège de France. He was a member of the Académie des Sciences and Académie de Médecineand of many European scientific societies. He became...