Catholic physician, discoverer of auscultation, father of modern knowledge of pulmonary diseases. Born Quimper, Brittany, February 17, 1781; died Kerlouanec, August 13, 1826. Studied medicine at the Charité hospital, Paris. He invented the stethoscope in 1816, and wrote the standard work on mediate auscultation. He described several medical conditions including bronchiectasis and cirrhosis. While working with tuberculosis patients, he contracted the disease himself. Cirrhosis of the liver is still sometimes called Laënnec's cirrhosis. Head of the Medical Clinic at Charité hospital. Professor at the Collège de France.