Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) is an American physician, poet, professor, lecturer, and author.

Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets.

His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which begins with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858).

He is also recognized as an important medical reformer.

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Holmes is educated at Phillips Academy and Harvard College.

After graduating from Harvard in 1829, he briefly studies law before turning to the medical profession.

He begins writing poetry at an early age; one of his most famous works, "Old Ironsides", is published in 1830 and is influential in the eventual preservation of the USS Constitution.

Following training at the prestigious medical schools of Paris, Holmes is granted his M.D.

from Harvard Medical School in 1836.

He teaches at Dartmouth Medical School before returning to teach at Harvard and, for a time, serves as dean there.

During his long professorship, he becomes an advocate for various medical reforms and notably posits the controversial idea that doctors are capable of carrying puerperal fever from patient to patient.

Holmes retires from Harvard in 1882 and continues writing poetry, novels and essays until his death in 1894.

Surrounded by Boston's literary elite—which includes friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and James Russell Lowell—Holmes makes an indelible imprint on the literary world of the 19th century.

Many of his works are published in The Atlantic Monthly, a magazine that he has named.

For his literary achievements and other accomplishments, he is awarded numerous honorary degrees from universities around the world.

Holmes's writing often commemorates his native Boston area, and much of it is meant to be humorous or conversational.

Some of his medical writings, notably his 1843 essay regarding the contagiousness of puerperal fever, are considered innovative for their time.

He is often called upon to issue occasional poetry, or poems written specifically for an event, including many occasions at Harvard.

Holmes also popularizes several terms, including "Boston Brahmin" and "anesthesia".

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