Oliver Wendell Holmes
At a glance:
- Series: Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century
- Categories: Literature, Publishing, Medicine, Health
- Subcategories: Authors, Writers, Poetry, Poets, Teaching, Teachers, Doctors, Physicians, Nurses
- Curriculum: American History 1816-1855, American Civil War & Reconstruction Era (1856-1877), American History 1878-1900
Article abstract: Contributions: Holmes was an American doctor and teacher of medicine who helped pioneer many new medical techniques, including the use of microscopes and anesthesia. He was also a poet and essayist whose writings were dominated by wit and inventiveness.
Early Life
Oliver Wendell Holmes was born into a kind of New England aristocracy that he later called the Brahmin caste. His home atmosphere was a mixture of solid Puritanism dictated by his father, Abiel Holmes, a Congregationalist minister, and more liberal thought contributed by his...
[The entire page is 1995 words long]