In the history of medicine, Peter Ludvig Panum is one of the names that keeps returning.
The record lists Peter Ludvig Panum as Danish physiologist (1820–1885).
Peter Ludvig Panum was born at Rønne in 1820. His recorded nationality is Denmark. He trained at University of Copenhagen.
Anaesthesia, antisepsis and germ theory arrived within fifty years and made modern surgery possible for the first time.
His posts were held at University of Copenhagen and Kiel University.
The recorded fields of work are medicine.
The test of medical work is whether practice changed, not whether the argument was elegant.
Recognition followed: Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog (1850) and commander of the Order of the Dannebrog (1883).
That the work was done from Denmark matters: hospitals, training and research funding are unevenly distributed, and they decide which questions can be asked.
Peter Ludvig Panum died in 1885, aged 65. What survives is the change in practice, which is how a medical life is actually measured.
Achievements
- Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog — 1850
- commander of the Order of the Dannebrog — 1883
- Held posts at University of Copenhagen and Kiel University
- Fields: medicine
