Philippe Pinel

Philippe Pinel was a French physician, precursor of psychiatry and incidentally a zoologist. He was instrumental in the development of a more humane psychological approach to the custody and care of psychiatric patients, referred to today as moral therapy. He worked for the abolition of the shackling of mental patients by chains and, more generally, for the humanisation of their treatment. He also made notable contributions to the classification of mental disorders and has been described by some as "the father of modern psychiatry".

20 April 1745

Born on the same birth day (20 April): Donald Pettit • Dwight Gustafson • Felix Baumgartner • Henry de Montherlant • Johannes Agricola • Maurice Duplessis • Mimis Fotopoulos • Myriam Bru • Steve Spurrier • Sydney Chapman (economist) • Vannesa Rosales • Viktor Suvorov

Born in the same month (April 1745): Oliver Ellsworth