John Snow
15 March 1813 – 16 June 1858
John Snow was an English physician who is considered a founder of modern epidemiology. He traced an 1854 cholera outbreak in London's Soho district to a contaminated public water pump, providing key evidence that cholera was a waterborne disease. He was also a pioneer in the medical use of anaesthesia.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with John Snow.
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- Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) Overlapped 45 years →
- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) Overlapped 45 years →
- Benito Juárez (1806–1872) Overlapped 45 years →
- Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) Overlapped 45 years →
- David Livingstone (1813–1873) Overlapped 45 years →
Life events
John Snow was born the eldest of nine children in a working-class family in York.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe began his medical training as an apprentice to surgeon-apothecary William Hardcastle.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAfter studying in London, he qualified and established a medical practice in the city.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe gave chloroform to Queen Victoria during the birth of Prince Leopold, lending respectability to obstetric anaesthesia.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe mapped cholera cases in Soho and identified the Broad Street water pump as the source, having its handle removed.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe published an expanded edition of his treatise arguing that cholera was spread through contaminated water.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe was recognized by his peers with election to the presidency of the society.