René Laennec

René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec was a French physician and musician. His skill at carving his own wooden flutes led him to invent the stethoscope in 1816, while working at the Hôpital Necker. He pioneered its use in diagnosing various chest conditions. He became a lecturer at the Collège de France in 1822 and professor of medicine in 1823. His final appointments were that of head of the medical clinic at the Hôpital de la Charité and professor at the Collège de France. He went into a coma and subsequently died of tuberculosis on August 13, 1826 at age 45.

17 February 1781

Born on the same birth day (17 February): AB de Villiers • Aaron Montgomery Ward • Alan Bates • Andre Norton • Angela Eagle • Annie Glenn • Brett Kern • February 17 • Fred Frith • Giuseppe Signori • Horace Bénédict de Saussure • Jiřina Jirásková • John Cooke (Royal Navy officer) • Joseph Bech • Lou Ann Barton • Mary Ann Mobley • Otto Stern • Philipp Franz von Siebold • Raf Vallone • Sebastian Aho (ice hockey, born 1996) • Tobias Mayer • Václav Prospal

Born in the same month (February 1781): Johann Baptist von Spix • John Keane, 1st Baron Keane