Part 1: Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and his wife, Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier “Dans la nature rien ne se crée, rien ne se perd, tout change.In nature nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything changes.” Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (French nobleman, chemist, biologist) Those of us who have studied chemistry are no doubt familiar with the name Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, also known as the ‘Father of Modern Chemistry’; however, many don’t realize the significant role played by his wife, research partner, and chief collaborator,…

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There’s no need for fiction in medicine, for the facts will always beat anything you fancy.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle[1] (physician, creator of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) Born May 22, 1859, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Scottish writer behind Sherlock Holmes, was also a doctor who received his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh, which was renowned as one of the premier medical institutions in Europe and, indeed, the world. Students of creative writing are told repeatedly to “write…

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“In science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to whom the idea first occurs.”Sir Francis Darwin (botanist, son of Charles Darwin) In a February 1, 2018 article in The New England Journal of Medicine, Arthur W. Boylston, M.D.[1], debunks the myth of the milkmaids and their impact on the development of the smallpox vaccine—the world’s first vaccine. For more than two centuries, folklore told Edward Jenner was inspired to create the vaccine which eventually eradicated…

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