'Famous Pharmacists' !

Dear readers,

This time I would like to discuss with you a strange topic about some world famous persons who were well known in other fields but still worked as pharmacists or had a pharmacy background. Seems quiet interesting? These talents couldn’t stick to the pharmacy field and arose to broader world with long vision. ‘Broader world’ here I meant really indicates a wide space which you will get by knowing the names of these renowned persons who were ‘pharmacists’in their past. Below I list several famous people who spent time behind the pharmacist's counter, a sampling that includes apprentices to apothecaries, clerks for chemists, and owners and operators of the family drugstore.

Benjamin Franklin; (inventor of electricity) Believe it or not, this Founding Father was a pharmacist before he was ever a printer or a statesman. Working as a clerk in a neighborhood mercantile store, he dispensed medicines, herbs and various curatives.

Sir Isaac Newton: The man who changed the world with his theory of gravity served as an apprentice apothecary in Grantham, England, living with the town’s apothecary at Cambridge, where he began his illustrious career in physics and mathematics.

O. Henry: The brilliant American writer – author of ‘The gift of Magi’ – worked in a number of diverse jobs before he became a writer. He worked in his uncle’s drugstore as a teenager and became a pharmacist at 19.

Hubert H. Humphrey: (Vice President of the United States under President Lyndon B. Johnson) The Minnesota democrat worked for a short time as a pharmacists in his father’s drugstore, later going into politics and serving as mayor of Minneapolis, a U. S. senator and, of course ,then asthe vice president of US. His brief stint as a pharmacists was honored in 1966 when he was named Pharmacist of the Year by the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. The American Pharmaceutical Association bestows its annual Hubert H. Humphrey Award on pharmacists who are known, like Humphrey, for their commitment to civil rights and public service.

Henrik Ibsen: The renowned Norwegian playwright spent his teenage years working as a pharmacists apprentice. He left home at 15 and made his way to the coastal town of Grimstad where he lived for six years, eventually becoming assistant pharmacist.

Wilbur L. Scoville: The American chemist is best known for creating "The Scoville Organoleptic Test", now known as the Scoville scale – while working at Parke-Davis pharmaceuticals in 1912 he devised the test, which measures the hotness of chili peppers. He also wrote one of the most-used pharmaceutical reference books, “The Art of Compounding,” which was first published in 1895 and continued to be used in the industry until the mid-1960'

Charles Walgreen: After losing part of a finger in an accident at the shoe factory where he worked, Walgreen with the sugession of his doctor decided to apprentice with a local druggist. He later studied in Chicago and became a pharmacist, interrupting his career to serve in the Spanish-American War as a volunteer.

George F. Archambault. (Liaison Officer for the United States Public Health Service) Considered to be the creator of the consultant style most pharmacies adopt today and he is quoted with the following vision for pharmacists everywhere: “It is the pharmacist’s professional responsibility to protect the public against iatrogenesis, physician-induced injury or disease in the area of drug prescribing especially as to overdosage, incompatibilities, contraindications, and synergistic drug actions.”

Dante Alighieri, The great Italian poet and author of “The Divine Comedy” who was an apothecary guild in the late 1200's and John Pemberton, inventor of Coca Cola too had a pharmacy background. Pemberton invented this drink as a cure for headaches and nervousness. When it was mixed with carbonated water, it was sold as a fountain drink and a cure for morphine addiction.
The list still continues with some of the currently well known persons like Daniel Vettori, Captain and energetic spin bowler for NewZeland and Geraint Johns, who kept the wickets for English cricket team for two years recently! Is it bit amazing to hear the relation between the Pharmacy and cricket? Do you know,even the famous crime writer Agatha Cristie was a pharmacy technician!

By listing these persons, I am not trying to say that we cant become so famous and serve our society with our pharmacy profession.But these names which are written in golden letters were originally the pharmacists. We , the pharmacists have another opportunity to proud of..Isnt it?
Expecting your valuable comments...