author
Hippocrates
Often called the father of medicine, this legendary Greek physician helped shift healing away from superstition and toward close observation of the human body. His name still echoes through medical ethics, thanks to the tradition of the Hippocratic Oath.
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About the author
Living in ancient Greece around the 5th century BCE, Hippocrates of Kos became the most famous physician of the classical world. Ancient tradition places his birth on the island of Kos and links him with a medical practice grounded in observation, prognosis, and careful attention to symptoms rather than supernatural explanations.
He is closely associated with the Hippocratic Corpus, a collection of medical writings that shaped Western medicine for centuries, though scholars do not believe he personally wrote every work in it. Even so, those texts reflect the kind of medicine long connected with his name: practical, disciplined, and deeply interested in how illness unfolds.
Hippocrates' reputation grew far beyond his own lifetime. He is still remembered as a symbol of professional ethics and rational medicine, and the Hippocratic Oath remains one of the best-known traditions associated with the medical profession.