Georgios Papanikolaou

Georgios Nicholas Papanikolaou (or George Papanicolaou; Greek: Γεώργιος Παπανικολάου) (born on May 13, 1883, at Kimi on the island of Evia, in Greece, and dead on February 19, 1962) was a pioneer in cytology and early cancer detection. He studied at the University of Athens where he received his medical degree in 1904. Six years later he received his Ph.D. from the University of Munich, Germany after he had also spent time at the universities of ... more

Georgios Nicholas Papanikolaou (or George Papanicolaou; Greek: Γεώργιος Παπανικολάου) (born on May 13, 1883, at Kimi on the island of Evia, in Greece, and dead on February 19, 1962) was a pioneer in cytology and early cancer detection. He studied at the University of Athens where he received his medical degree in 1904. Six years later he received his Ph.D. from the University of Munich, Germany after he had also spent time at the universities of Jena and Freiburg. In 1913 he emigrated to the U.S. in order to work in the department of Pathology of New York Hospital and the Department of Anatomy at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He first reported that uterine cancer could be diagnosed by means of a vaginal smear in 1928, but the importance of his work was not recognized until the publication, together with Herbert Traut, of 'Diagnosis of Uterine Cancer by the Vaginal Smear' in 1943. The book discusses the preparation of the vaginal and cervical smear, physiologic... less