15 Susruta

Susruta

Time period: 750 BC

Subject: Biology, Medicine

Biography:

Susruta lived in India, near Nepal. He was an ancient physician who accumulated a vast amount of knowledge and used it to find new and innovative techniques in medicine and surgery. He was known to have trained countless disciples to be doctors by having them practice accurate cutting techniques on fruits and vegetables.

Summary of their contributions:

• Was the first plastic surgeon
• Pioneered many other surgical techniques
• Wrote a ridiculously awesome 184-chapter long book describing over a thousand illnesses and hundreds of medicinal plants and other remedies. It is called the “Sushruta Samhita” and is a legendary text.

Integration with the BC Secondary Science Curriculum:

• Best shown in anatomy and physiology 12, when students study the properties, texture, and function of living tissue.
• Shows that groundbreaking progression of science, engineering, medicine etc are not limited to western cultures
• Anatomy and physiology was studied for thousands of years; shows the student that it is an area of study quite inherent to human nature

References:

Bath, Khushbir; Aggarwal, Sourabh; Sharma, Vishal (2019). “Sushruta: Father of plastic surgery in Benares”. Journal of Medical Biography. 27 (1): 2–3

Wujastyk, Dominik (2003). The roots of Ayurveda selections from sanskrit medical writings. London; New York: Penguin Books.