Thomas Sydenham
Thomas Sydenham | |
|---|---|
A 1689 portrait of Sydenham by Mary Beale | |
| Born | 10 September 1624 Wynford Eagle, Dorset, England |
| Died | 29 December 1689 (aged 65) Pall Mall, London, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Alma mater | All Souls College, Oxford (MB, 1648) Pembroke College, Cambridge (MD, 1676) |
| Known for | Clinical medicine |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Medicine |
Thomas Sydenham (/ˈsɪdənəm/; 10 September 1624 – 29 December 1689) was an English physician. He was the author of Observationes Medicae (1676) which became a standard textbook of medicine for two centuries so that he became known as 'The English Hippocrates'. Among his many achievements was the discovery of a disease, Sydenham's chorea, also known as St Vitus' Dance. To him is attributed the prescient dictum, "A man is as old as his arteries."