Friedrich Loeffler: How a physician’s curiosity helped create virology
Imagine being told that an infectious disease is caused by something that cannot be seen, cannot be grown by the methods available to you, and can pass through a filter…
From pressure to the first cry and Uruguayan link
Making the Invisible Visible Uruguay is famous for football and Cowboys. So it was intriguing when I came across two postage stamps from the country, issued in 1998 celebrating its…
Carotenoids, Vitamin A and substances that give plants its colors
Fruits and flowers are colorful, quite unlike leaves that have shades of green. While green color comes from chlorophyll; shades of orange, yellow, and red come from carotenoids and betalains;…
Argentinian medics, depicted in its postage stamps
Argentina (currently known as Argentine Republic) was established as a Spanish colonial territory. In 1816, the country declared its independence. Named after a precious metal, silver the country is well…
Uddhavdas Mehta, a Physician and a social activist from Bhopal
On evening of 1st February 2026, I was at iconic Minto Hall in Bhopal, for an India-post postage stamp release function. I already knew the building, commissioned in 1909 by…
Florence Nightingale’s lamp, that never was hers
Florence Nightingale is an iconic figure, and as a founder of modern nursing, is revered across the world. She is depicted on various postage stamps, bank notes, and many other…
Ilizarov and his apparatus for healing of bone defects
Ilizarov is a name most doctors, and especially those who practice orthopedics are well aware of. However, his journey from obscurity to global fame, is not much known. He invented,…
Bohler: A surgeon who gave science and method to bone setting
Individuals with fractured leg bones, often need pins, pulleys, and plaster to hold the two ends of the broken bone, close-together. As patients with this intricate system are made to…
Faith-healers who cure by calling spirits, and emotions
While healing itself is an art, many consider faith-healing as quite farther away from science. While disease is more ancient as compared to its cure, faith-healing may well be a…
Berlin doctors soon after second world war was over
Adolf Hitler killed himself on 30th April 1945, and over next two days German garrison in Berlin had surrendered. Soviet army from the east, south and north moved in to…