Pravaz, Charles Gabriel

SUBJECT AREA: Medical technology

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b. 24 March 1791 Isère, France

d. 24 June 1853 Lyon, France

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French physician, orthopaedic innovator, inventor of the hypodermic syringe and developer of galvanocautery.

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Pravaz was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique and served in Napoleon's army until 1814. He qualified in medicine in 1824, practised in Paris and then moved to Lyon, where he founded the orthopaedic Institut de Lyon. In 1853 he produced the first practical hypodermic syringe, and developed galvanocautery.

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Principal Honours and Distinctions

Légion d'honneur.

Bibliography

1829, Recherches sur la possibilité de prévenir l'absorption des virus et des venirs par l'emploi des moyens physiques.

1853, "Sur un nouveau moyen d'opérer la coagulation du sang dans les artères", C.P.Acad. Sci. Paris.

Further Reading

G.Despierres, 1985, "Un Lyonnais méconnu", La Cohorte 7.

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