The doodle on the Google home pages in many countries around the world, shows an early version of the instrument that has come to symbolise doctors around the world, along with the type we know today. The stethoscope was invented by French physician Rene Laennec (full name René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laënne) in 1816.
The original stethoscope designed by Laennec consisted of a wooden hollow tube that measured 3.5 cm (1.4 inches) in diameter and was 25 cm (10 inches) long. The monoaural instrument (transmitting sound to one ear) could be easily disassembled and reassembled. The device also used a special plug help transmit sounds from the patient's heart and lungs.
Laennec's innovation fundamentally changed the detection and diagnosis of lung and heart problems but the necessity behind the invention was more cultural than medical.
The stethoscope replaced the practice of immediate auscultation which was performed by a physician by placing his ear directly on the chest or abdomen of the patient to listen to the sounds. This method of placing the ear on the chest was awkward in the case of female patients and this compelled Laennec to find a better way to listen to the chest.
Google's description of the Rene Laennec doodle, says, "late in 1816, while examining a patient suffering complications of the heart, René Laennec’s memory of a stroll taken months prior came rushing back. Walking the courtyard of the Louvre that day, he observed two children playing with a long stick - one scraped it with a pin while the other listened giddily to the amplified sound on the other end.
Recalling this, Laennec rolled up a piece of paper and pressed it to his patient’s chest. The beating of her heart was suddenly audible and clear, and the stethoscope was born."
Rene Laennec was born on February 17, 1781 in Quimper, Brittany, France and died on August 13, 1826 in Kerlouanec, France from cavitating tuberculosis — the same disease that he helped elucidate using his stethoscope. He used his own invention to diagnose himself and understand that he was dying.
circa 1820: French physician (Rene Theophile) Hyacinthe Laennec, (1781 - 1826). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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