Georgios Nikolaou Papanikolaou (or George Papanicolaou ; ; 13 May 1883 – 19 February 1962) 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.

After studying medicine in Greece and Germany, in 1913 he emigrated to the United States and was on the faculty at Cornell Medical College. He first reported that uterine cancer cells could be detected in vaginal smears in 1928, but his work was not widely recognized until the 1940s. An extensive trial of his techniques was carried out in the early 1950s. In 1961 he was invited to the University of Miami to lead and develop there the Papanicolaou Cancer Research Institute.

Early life and education

thumb|Papanikolaou's house in [[Kymi, Greece]]

Papanikolaou was born in Kymi, Greece, on 13 May 1883. He attended the University of Athens, where he studied literature, philosophy, languages and music. Urged by his physician father, he pursued a medical degree, which he received in 1904. He was then conscripted into military service. When his military obligation ended in 1906, he returned to Kymi to practice medicine with his father.

In 1907, he began studying in Germany under Ernst Haeckel at the University of Jena for one semester before moving to the University of Freiburg, where he was supervised by August Weismann. He then attended the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where in 1910 he received a PhD degree in zoology.

Career

Papanikolaou then returned to Athens, where he married Andromachi Mavrogeni, who would later become his laboratory assistant and research subject. He 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.

Cornell University

Two years later, in 1913, along with his wife, he immigrated to New York City in order to work in the pathology department at New York Hospital and the Department of Anatomy at Cornell University's Medical College.

Papanikolaou was also 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. at the University of Miami, but died there on 19 February 1962 due to a myocardial infarction. His wife Andromachi Papanikolaou, known as Mary, continued his work at the Papanicolaou Cancer Research Institute after his death; she died in Miami on 13 October 1982.

Discoveries

thumb|An abnormal [[pap test]]

In 1914, Papanikolaou and his wife worked at the Department of Anatomy at the Cornell Medical College of Cornell University and contributed to the histological and physiological changes associated with the oestrus cycle in the guinea pig. In 1917, Papanikolaou along with Charles R. Stockard demonstrated that, in the guinea pig, the histologic cyclic changes that occur in the reproductive tract during the estrus cycle also occur in the vaginal mucosa and can be detected by cytologic examination of vaginal smears. This technique (termed the Papanicolaou technique

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. Upon examination of a slide made from a smear of one of the participant's vaginal fluid, Papanikolaou discovered that abnormal cancer cells could be plainly observed under a microscope. "The first observation of cancer cells in the smear of the uterine cervix," he later wrote, "gave me one of the greatest thrills I ever experienced during my scientific career." This was followed two years later by an illustrated monograph based on a study of over 3,000 cases. In 1954, he published another memorable work, the Atlas of Exfoliative Cytology, thus creating the foundation of the modern medical specialty of cytopathology. The complete works of Papanicolaou as the founder of exfoliative cytology include 5 books and 158 original articles, all of which are summarised in his monographs.

Controversy

Romanian physician Aurel Babeș made similar discoveries in the cytologic diagnosis of cervical cancer. He discovered that if a platinum loop (rather than a cotton swab, as used by Papanikolaou and by modern doctors but Papanicolaou was not aware of Babeș's research. On the other hand, Babes was aware of Papanikolaou's studies. Moreover, the medical community has established that the two techniques are different in their design.

Recent scientific papers have analyzed the ways that Babeș's method differed from Papanikolaou's and note that the paternity of the Pap test belongs solely to Papanicolaou.

Although a few scholars believe that Babeș was the true pioneer in the cytologic diagnosis of cervical cancer, In Romania, cervical testing is referred to as the Méthode Babeș-Papanicolaou in honor of both scientists.

Awards and honors

Papanikolaou was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize, but never won. This was likely because the prize is rarely awarded for diagnostic tools, as well as because a death of one of Papanikolaou's great admirers, who was a member of the Nobel Prize Committee, occurred around that time and also due to the committee's reluctance to award a Nobel Prize for another cancer discovery following a former embarrassing award in 1926 to Johannes Fibiger, who claimed that worms caused cancer. Nevertheless, Papanikolaou received many other prestigious prizes and awards for his discoveries, In total, he received hundreds of honorary awards.

These include honorary awards by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Cancer Society.

Commemorations

In 1958 the Papanicolaou Award, the highest award given by the American Society of Cytopathology, was established in Papanikolaou's honor, and it has since been awarded annually.

In 1978 Papanikolaou's work was honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a 13-cent stamp for early cancer detection.

In 2011 A Man of Science, a statue portraying Papanicolaou, was permanently installed in Weill Cornell Medicine's main lobby at 1300 York Avenue, in New York City.

On 13 May 2019, the 136th anniversary of his birth, a Google Doodle featuring Papanikolaou was shown in North America, parts of South America, and parts of Europe and Israel. His and his wife Andromachi's efforts in the fight against cervical cancer, along with those of Helen Octavia Dickens and Hashime Murayama, featured in the documentary film The Cancer Detectives, which first aired on American Experience on 26 March 2024.

References

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