PHYSICIANS from Portugal

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Portuguese Physicians of all time. This list of famous Portuguese Physicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. António Egas Moniz (1874 - 1955)

With an HPI of 69.22, António Egas Moniz is the most famous Portuguese Physician.  His biography has been translated into 52 different languages on wikipedia.

António Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz (29 November 1874 – 13 December 1955), known as Egas Moniz (Portuguese: [ˈɛɣɐʒ muˈniʃ]), was a Portuguese neurologist and the developer of cerebral angiography. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern psychosurgery, having developed the surgical procedure leucotomy—​better known today as lobotomy—​for which he became the first Portuguese national to receive a Nobel Prize in 1949 (shared with Walter Rudolf Hess). He held academic positions, wrote many medical articles and also served in several legislative and diplomatic posts in the Portuguese government. In 1911, he became professor of neurology in Lisbon until his retirement in 1944.

2. Garcia de Orta (1499 - 1568)

With an HPI of 52.69, Garcia de Orta is the 2nd most famous Portuguese Physician.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Garcia de Orta (or Garcia d'Orta; 1501–1568) was a Portuguese physician, herbalist, and naturalist, who worked primarily in Goa and Bombay in Portuguese India. A pioneer of tropical medicine, pharmacognosy, and ethnobotany, Garcia used an experimental approach to the identification and the use of herbal medicines, rather than the older approach of received knowledge. His most famous work is Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India, a book on simples (herbs used individually and not mixed with others) and drugs. Published in 1563, it is the earliest treatise on the medicinal and economic plants of India. Carolus Clusius translated it into Latin, which was widely used as a standard reference text on medicinal plants. Although Garcia de Orta did not suffer the Goa Inquisition, his sister Catarina was burnt at the stake in 1569 for being a secret Jew and, based on her confession, his remains were later exhumed and burnt, along with an effigy, at an auto-da-fé. Memorials recognizing his contributions have been built in both Portugal and India.