Pieter Klazes Pel

"[1] In 1878 Pel was appointed "chef de clinique” at the University Hospital in Amsterdam, and devoted himself to internal medicine—both as a physician and as a researcher.

Pel noted on post-mortem examination splenomegaly (enlarged spleen) as well as swelling of the lymph nodes.

A polemic between the two followed over whether this phenomenon was a symptom of what was then called "pseudo-leukemia" (Pel) or that of a separate disease (Ebstein).

[4] Pel shared the opinion of Sir William Osler, a contemporary of his, that the way to teach and train new physicians is at the bedsides of patients, rather than at a desk listening to lectures.

Osler considered bringing students out of classrooms and into hospital wards—to learn by experience—to be his greatest legacy, and he is credited today as the father of the modern medical residency.