Scipione Riva-Rocci

Scipione Riva Rocci (7 August 1863 in Almese, Piedmont – 15 March 1937 in Rapallo, Liguria) was an Italian internist, pathologist and pediatrician.

In 1928 he retired from his medical positions due to a neurological condition,[2] probably encephalitis lethargica, which he may have contracted from a patient or an autopsy during an epidemic in 1921.

[3][4] Riva Rocci's major contribution to medicine was the invention of an easy-to-use version of the mercury sphygmomanometer which measured brachial blood pressure.

[11] Cushing, with support from Theodore Janeway in New York City and George Crile in Cleveland, played a major role in popularizing Riva Rocci's mercury sphygmomanometer.

[12] Subsequent improvements to the device included the use of a wider cuff (the original was only 5 cm wide) and the use of Korotkoff sounds to determine systolic and diastolic blood pressure.