Celebrating Two Centuries since the Invention of the Stethoscope. René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec (1781-1826).

René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec (1781-1826), a French physician, is considered one of the pioneers of respiratory medicine. His contribution to the invention of the stethoscope and to the development of clinical auscultation played a key role in the progress of the diagnosis of chest diseases. Almost two centuries after his invention of the stethoscope, his achievements continue to be widely appreciated and used by modern physicians in current pulmonology.