Pierre Bretonneau

He studied with his uncle, the vicar at Chenonceaux (Indre-et-Loire) department along with the children of the Chenonceau château.

Madame Dupin, the grandmother of George Sand, financed his medical studies in Paris.

Very curious and clever, he had a laboratory at his disposal and occupied himself with gardening and other manual labours in his spare time.

He spent 15 years at Chenonceaux gaining experience, wrote his thesis in medicine in 1815 and then became medical director at the hospital in Tours; which currently bears his name.

It was the beginning of scientific medicine: where careful observation is used to find cures for sickness and solutions to problems.