The Anatomists

Laura Mazer
  • 5.0 (2)
  • History
  • Weekly

Medical history told as stories. The Anatomists is a podcast about the people, discoveries, and moral challenges that are the story of progress in medicine. Each episode dives into a figure or topic that rewrote what we thought was possible. From revolutionary surgeons to forgotten pioneers, these are the histories that aren't in the textbooks.

Episodes

  1. 4d ago

    Episode 6: The Abortionist of Auschwitz - The story of Gisella Perl

    Note: This is a very difficult story. It contains descriptions of violence, torture, and genocide.For women in Auschwitz, pregnancy was a death sentence. Gisella Perl, a Jewish-Hungarian gynecologist imprisoned in the Nazi death camp, made the extraordinary decision to secretly end pregnancies in order to save the mother's life. After the war, Perl went back to work-- and went on to deliver thousands of healthy babies. At each birth, she offered the same prayer: "God, you owe me a life. A living baby."

  2. Oct 8

    Episode 5: A Tale of Two Lobotomies - The story of Walter Freeman

    In 1936, a Columbia math graduate student with a crippling phobia of shoes chose to have a prefrontal lobotomy. Five years later, she was teaching university mathematics. In 1960, a 12-year-old boy was lobotomized in a doctor's office because his stepmother found him hard to manage. Did the lobotomy work? Sometimes. But that's the wrong question. This episode follows the rise and fall of psychosurgery. From Egas Moniz's first operations in Lisbon, to Walter Freeman's partnership with neurosurgeon James Watts, and his eventual invention of the "ice pick" procedure that allowed him to perform more than 2,000 operations on his own. The rise and fall of lobotomy is a cautionary tale: what happens when what was reasonable in 1936 becomes indefensible by 1954, and what happens to those who can't accept the change.

  3. Sep 29

    Episode 4: The Anatomist Who Invented Geology

    This is the story of Nicolaus Steno, a 17th century anatomist who cut up a giant shark, founded a new science, then retired to become a bishop and wound up beatified in the 1980s. It's a story about the culture of science in the 17th century, the origins of geology, and the interrelatedness of different disciplines.

  4. Sep 11

    Episode 3 - Right for the Wrong Reasons: The Sad Story of Ignaz Semmelweis, Savior of Mothers

    19th century maternity wards were haunted by the specter of childbed fever: otherwise known as the "doctor's plague," since it seemed to follow physicians from bed to bed. This is the story of Ignaz Semmelweis, whose discovery saved lives but whose inability to communicate it prevented wider acceptance.

  5. Sep 11

    Episode 2 - Ignore your boss, tie up a nurse, win a Nobel Prize: The Story of Werner Forssmann

    Werner Forssmann was a cardiac surgery pioneer who has the claim to fame of being the first to perform a cardiac catheterization on a human being. He is also famous for being the first to have a cardiac catheterization performed on him, because he experimented on himself.A physician, a researcher, a Nobel prize winner, a member of the Nazi party, and to some extent a blindly apolitical and even amoral observer of World War II Germany from within, Forssmann’s story is worth knowing for its role in medical history and its perspective on world history.

  6. Sep 11

    Episode 1 - Don't Touch the Thyroid: The Story of Emil Theodor Kocher

    In 1874, Theodor Kocher could do what other surgeons thought impossible: safe, efficient thyroid surgery. He was at the height of his career when a letter arrived questioning everything he had worked for, and changing the history of medicine forever.

  • 6 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Medical history told as stories. The Anatomists is a podcast about the people, discoveries, and moral challenges that are the story of progress in medicine. Each episode dives into a figure or topic that rewrote what we thought was possible. From revolutionary surgeons to forgotten pioneers, these are the histories that aren't in the textbooks.

Information

  • Creator
    Laura Mazer
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Laura Mazer
  • Show Website
    The Anatomists