[Bernardino] Ramazzini wrote De Morbis Artificum Diatriba (1760; Diseases of Workers), the first comprehensive work on occupational diseases, outlining the health hazards of irritating chemicals, dust, metals, and other abrasive agents encountered by workers in 52 occupations. He served as professor of medicine at the University of Padua from 1700 until his death. ---britanica.com 1
Each chapter of the De Morbis Artificum Diatriba contains a description of the disease associated with a particular work activity followed by a literature analysis, workplace description, questions for workers, disease description, remedies, and advice. The clinical picture was directly observed by Ramazzini, who questioned workers about their complaints. He regularly asked his patients about the kind of work they did and suggested that all physicians do the same. --- National Library of Medicine 2
He proposed that physicians should extend the list of questions that Hippocrates recommended they ask their patients by adding, "What is your occupation?". Ramazzini saw prevention as being better than cure. In his Oratio given in 1711, he suggested that "it is much better to prevent than to cure, and so much easier to foresee future harm and avoid it rather than have to get rid of it after having fallen prey". In regards to malaria, Ramazzini was one of the first to support the use of the quinine-rich bark cinchona. Many falsely claimed that quinine was toxic and ineffective, but Ramazzini recognized its importance. He is quoted, "It [quinine] did for medicine what gun powder did for war." --- wikipedia 3
The link between prolonged sitting as a health hazard was noted as early as the 17th century by the occupational physician Ramazzini. --- Sydney Morning Herald 4
A more comprehensive account of occupational disorders was written by Bernardino Ramazzini, a professor of medicine first at the University of Modena and later at the University of Padua. His De Morbis Artificum Diatriba (1700; Diseases of Workers) contains descriptions of the diseases associated with 54 different occupations, from the mercury poisoning of Venetian mirror makers to the diseases afflicting learned men. Ramazzini believed that a physician must determine the patient’s occupation in order to discover the cause of the patient’s disorder. He is generally regarded as the father of occupational medicine. --- britannica 5
Bernardino Ramazzini britannica ↩︎
Bernardino Ramazzini: The Father of Occupational Medicine National Library of Medicine ↩︎
Bernardino Ramazzini wikipedia ↩︎
Sitting can lead to an early death Sydney Morning Herald ↩︎
occupational disease britannica.com ↩︎