Chevalier Jackson

Chevalier Jackson (November 4, 1865 – August 16, 1958) was a laryngologist.

Jackson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He went to school at the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh) from 1879 to 1883, and received his MD from Jefferson Medical College. He also studied laryngology in England.

His work reduced the risks involved in a tracheotomy. He essentially invented the modern science of endoscopy of the upper airway and esophagus, using hollow tubes with illumination (esophagoscopes and bronchoscopes). He developed methods for removing foreign bodies from the esophagus and the airway with great safety — a huge advance for a condition that previously had often been a death sentence, with a high mortality from the object itself or from complications of chest surgery in the 19th century.

Jackson campaigned to put labels on all poisonous or corrosive substances to prevent ingestion accidents. Due to this, Congress passed the Federal Caustic Poison Act of 1927, which has saved countless children from serious injury and death. He was also the author of four monographs, twelve textbooks, and over 400 medical articles. Jackson was a professor at six different schools, including the University of Pittsburgh, Jefferson Medical College, Women's Medical College (now Drexel University College of Medicine) and Temple University. His portrait hangs at Drexel University Queen Lane Campus.

Jackson married in 1899 and had a son, Chevalier Lawrence Jackson, known informally as "C.L.," who went on to become a professor at Temple University.

When Chevalier Jackson died in Philadelphia in 1958, his obituary referred to him as "one of the greatest, if not the greatest laryngologists of all time." He is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Jackson was awarded the Franklin Institute's Elliott Cresson Medal in 1929.

References

• Cappello, Mary. Swallow: Foreign Bodies, Their Ingestion, Inspiration, and the Curious Doctor Who Extracted Them (NY: The New Press, 2010) ISBN 978-1595583956
• Jackson, C. "The Life of Chevalier Jackson: An Autobiography", The Macmillan Company, New York, 1938
• "Down the Hatch and Straight Into Medical History" New York Times, January 11, 2011

External links

• Chevalier Jackson at WhoNamedIt.com
• Biography-West Laurel Hill Cemetery web site

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Name	Jackson, Chevalier
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Date of birth	November 4, 1865
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Date of death	August 16, 1958
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