CAROL DAVILA (1828-1884), FRENCH REFORMER OF 19TH CENTURY
ROMANIAN MEDICINE AND PHARMACY: A PICTORIAL BIOGRAPHY
ADRIANA-ELENA TĂEREL1, MARIA-GABRIELA SULIMAN2*, ANTOANETA LUCASCIUC3,
OCTAVIAN BUDA1
1University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, Bucharest, Romania
2Romanian Society of History of Pharmacy
3Romanian Society of History of Medicine
*corresponding author: suliman.maria@gmail.com
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Abstract:

130 years since the passing of Charles Antoine François Davila - Carol Davila, there is a need for a pictorial biography of the
French doctor, considered providential person for the history of institutionalised medicine and pharmacy in Romania. A
prodigious personality, his groundbreaking work was illustrated in biographies signed by his pupils, like C.I. Istrati, D.
Grecescu, Z. Petrescu or C.D. Severeanu and by Romanian historians of medicine and pharmacy like G.Z. Petrescu, I.
Vintilescu, G. Barbu, G. Brătescu, C. Iugulescu, C. Ionescu etc.
Having obtained his PhD at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris (1853) the young doctor was committed to serve in the military
medical service in Romanian Principalities, in Bucharest. Davila studied chemistry and pharmacy in Nantes, Angers and
Paris and later supported the founding and organizing of academic education in medical, pharmaceutical and veterinary
medical services, both military and civilian, in the 19th century Bucharest. Carol Davila has been immortalized in numerous
works of art, signed by painters like T. Aman, N. Grigorescu, A. Elliescu, H. Braunstein; by sculptors like I. Georgescu, C.
Brâncuşi, C. Storck; photographers: I. Dauthage, D. Williams, Fr. Duschek, Carol Szathmari; engravers and known art
designers of the time, like André Lavrillier, Wilhelm and Mayer, Gh. Adoc.

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