1. Georgios Nikolaou Papanikolaou was a Greek physician, zoologist and microscopist who was a pioneer in cytopathology and early cancer detection, and inventor of the pap smear for detection of cervical cancer.
22 Facts About Georgios Papanikolaou
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Georgios Papanikolaou first reported that uterine cancer cells could be detected in vaginal smears in 1928, but his work was not widely recognized until the 1940s.
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Georgios Papanikolaou attended the University of Athens, where he studied literature, philosophy, languages and music.
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Georgios Papanikolaou then attended the University of Munich, where in 1910 he received a PhD degree in zoology.
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Georgios Papanikolaou then returned to Athens, where he married Andromachi Mavrogeni, who would later become his laboratory assistant and research subject.
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Georgios Papanikolaou next departed for Monaco, where he worked for the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco and participated in the Oceanographic Exploration Team of Prince Albert I of Monaco in 1911.
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Georgios Papanikolaou was inspired by the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, writing papers on philosophical matters for an Athenian literary quarterly.
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Georgios Papanikolaou thus became known for his invention of the Papanicolaou test, commonly known as the Pap smear or Pap test, which is used worldwide for the detection and prevention of cervical cancer and other cytologic diseases of the female reproductive system.
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Georgios Papanikolaou's wife Mary, was a crucial partner in this research.
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Georgios Papanikolaou was working in the same laboratory as an unpaid laboratory technician.
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Georgios Papanikolaou prepared her own samples in the laboratory for further analysis.
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Georgios Papanikolaou provided daily samples for twenty-one years, eventually encouraging her friends to provide samples for the research.
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In 1920, Georgios Papanikolaou realized that he could tell the difference between normal and malignant cells on the cervix by viewing smears on a slide under a microscope.
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In 1925, with funds from the National Research Council and the Maternal Health Committee, Georgios Papanikolaou recruited 12 hospital staff volunteers, together with a number of pregnant gynecological and surgical patients, for a systematic study of cervical cell morphology.
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In 1928, Georgios Papanikolaou told an incredulous audience of physicians about the noninvasive technique of gathering cellular debris from the lining of the vaginal tract and smearing it on a glass slide for microscopic examination as a way to identify cervical cancer.
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At a 1928 medical conference in Battle Creek, Michigan, Georgios Papanikolaou introduced his low-cost, easily performed screening test for early detection of cancerous and precancerous cells.
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Georgios Papanikolaou discovered that if a platinum loop was used to collect cells from a woman's cervix, and the cells were then dried on a slide and stained, it could be determined if cancer cells were present.
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Recent scientific papers have analyzed the ways that Babes's method differed from Georgios Papanikolaou's and note that the paternity of the Pap test belongs solely to Papanicolaou.
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Georgios Papanikolaou was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize, but never won.
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Nevertheless, Georgios Papanikolaou received many other prestigious prizes and awards for his discoveries, such as the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, which he received in 1950.
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In 1978 Georgios Papanikolaou's work was honored by the US Postal Service with a 13-cent stamp for early cancer detection.
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On 13 May 2019, the 136th anniversary of his birth, a Google Doodle featuring Georgios Papanikolaou was shown in North America, parts of South America, and parts of Europe and Israel.