Soranus of Ephesus

Soranus of Ephesus

(flourished 2nd century AD, Alexandria and Rome) Greek gynecologist, obstetrician, and pediatrician. A keen observer and unusually competent practitioner, he wrote works that influenced medical opinion for 1,500 years. His On Midwifery and the Diseases of Women describes contraceptive methods, obstetric techniques that were thought to be new in the 15th century, and what is now recognized as rickets. His suggested treatments for nervous disorders resemble aspects of modern psychotherapy. Soranus also wrote the first known biography of Hippocrates.