Bernardino Ramazzini (redirected from Ramazzini)

Ramazzini, Bernardino 

Born Oct. 4, 1633, in Carpi; died Nov. 5, 1714, in Padua. Italian physician and founder of occupational hygiene.

Ramazzini studied at the universities of Ferrara and Parma and became a physician in 1659. From 1682 to 1700 he held the chair of theoretical medicine at the University of Modena, and from 1700 he held the chair of practical medicine at the University of Padua.

Ramazzini’s principal work was Discourse on the Diseases of Artisans (1700; Russian translation, 1961), in which diseases characteristic of approximately 70 occupations were described; sections in the book included “On the Diseases of Writers and Scholars,” “On the Diseases of Scribes,” and “On the Diseases of Pharmacists.” Ramazzini discussed the hazards arising from processed materials, such as mercury and lead, from work methods and positions, as in such professions as tailoring and construction, and from the environment, as in fishing. He recommended methods for preventing diseases that result from these hazards. K. Marx cites Ramazzini’s book as a characteristic historical document of the early manufacturing period of capitalism and of the beginning of industrial pathology (see K. Marx in K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 23, p. 376).

Scientific societies on occupational hygiene have been named for Ramazzini in many countries, including Italy and the USA.

P. E. ZABLUDOVSKII