Thomas Sydenham

10 September 1624 – 29 December 1689

Thomas Sydenham was an English physician known as 'the English Hippocrates' for reviving careful bedside observation of disease. His Observationes Medicae of 1676 remained a standard medical textbook for two centuries, and he championed the use of cinchona bark for malaria and laudanum for pain. He gave classic clinical descriptions of gout, and the childhood movement disorder Sydenham's chorea is named after him.

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Life events

Born at Wynford Eagle, Dorset
10 September 1624

Thomas Sydenham was born into a Puritan gentry family, the son of William Sydenham of Wynford Eagle.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford
1642

Sydenham began his studies at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, though his education was soon interrupted by the outbreak of the English Civil War.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Served in the Parliamentary army during the Civil War
c. 1643 – c. 1645

Sydenham and his brothers fought on the Parliamentary side; several members of his family, including his mother, died in the conflict.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Received his Bachelor of Medicine from Oxford
1648

Returning to Oxford after the war, Sydenham was granted the degree of Bachelor of Medicine and a fellowship at All Souls College.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Began medical practice in Westminster, London
c. 1655

Sydenham settled in King Street, Westminster, where he built his reputation through close observation of epidemic diseases among his patients.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Married Mary Gee
1655

Sydenham married Mary Gee, with whom he had three sons.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Licensed by the Royal College of Physicians
1663

Sydenham obtained his licence to practise from the College of Physicians of London, though he was never elected a fellow.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published Observationes Medicae
1676

Sydenham's masterwork on epidemic diseases, based on decades of London observations, became a standard textbook of medicine for some two hundred years.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Published his classic treatise on gout
1683

In his Tractatus de podagra et hydrope, Sydenham, himself a lifelong sufferer, gave a celebrated clinical description of gout.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Died in London
29 December 1689

Sydenham died at his house in Pall Mall and was buried in the church of St James's, Piccadilly.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓