Jean-Louis Alibert

As a medical student in Paris, he studied with renowned physicians that included Pierre-Joseph Desault (1744–1795), Jean-Nicolas Corvisart (1755–1821), Xavier Bichat (1771–1802) and Philippe Pinel (1745–1826).

In 1801 he was appointed médecin adjoint to the Hôpital Saint-Louis (then known as the Hospice du Nord), where he administered to patients with skin disorders, syphilis and leprosy.

Alibert believed that when diagnosing skin disorders several criteria needed to be used, and attempted to introduce a classification system for diseases that was similar to the method Bernard and Antoine Laurent de Jussieu used in botany.

Alibert first classified dermatological disorders according to outer appearance, then he divided them into what he called families, genera and species.

[2] Alibert was a prodigious writer, his best known work being the beautifully illustrated Descriptions des maladies de la peau.