Cruz-Coke R
Unidad de Investigaciones Históricas, Museo Nacional de Medicina, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile. Santiago de Chile.
Rev Med Chil. 1997 Apr;125(4):492-6.
In the centennial of Alfred Nobel's death, the author proposes the nomination of great physicians of XIX century for a posthumous Medicine Nobel Prize. The valorization given by medical historians such as Garrison, Lavastine, Castiglioni, Lain Entralgo and Guerra, was used to select the best candidates. One to three names were assigned per year, from 1800 to 1848. Four categories of "Romantic Nobel Prizes" are assigned: a) Founders of basic disciplines (anatomy, chemistry, physiology etc); b) Masters of clinical and surgical medicine, pathology and specialties; c) Discoverers of transcendental diseases that are eponyms and d) Other great inventors or discoverers. A total of 66 nominees for the Nobel Prize, equally distributed between French, German and English physician, are presented. The omissions and limitation of this proposals are discussed.