History of Industrial Hygiene

Hippocrates (470-410 BC), a Greek physician, is best known as the Father of Medicine. He believed in the natural healing process of rest, a good diet, fresh air, and cleanliness. Hippocrates wrote of the plight of miners exposed to lead and other work-related contaminants. Hippocrates developed a treatise of medical ideology that modern physicians acknowledge prior to beginning their practice. This is better known as the Hippocratic Oath. 

Pliny the Elder (23 AD-79 AD) was a Roman senator, writer, and scientist. In his writings, he described the dangers to workers exposed to zinc and sulfur. He is believed to be the first to recommend respiratory protection when he suggested that miners cover their mouth and nose with an animal bladder when working in the mines. Pliny, a scientist to the end, lost his life trying to investigate the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. 

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