With almost immediate certainty and in all likelihood, on these following pages there are individuals depicted that until now were unknown to most people today. Yet these individuals were selected by the country’s postal authority to be commemorated on a postage stamp.
An objective to strive for when writing about people from the past that have had an influence or impact on our lives and society is to bring to the forefront, perhaps remove from obscurity those individuals that until now have been unheralded. Let us begin with a brief introduction on the format for this month’s column. This author thought a good and equitable approach would be simple: alphabetical order by country of notoriety and perhaps birthplace. For oftentimes, the country of birth does not always depict the accomplishments of the people that achieve fame or recognition. Sometimes the country that realizes and benefits from the individual’s success or achievements will highlight and recognize this by the issuance of a commemorative postage stamp. {Author’s Note: introducing in this issue for the images of philatelic material will be the addition of stamp catalog reference numbers. In philately, there are different catalogs that list stamps issued by postal authorities throughout the world. The main reference catalogs used here are Scott, Stanley Gibbons and Michel.}
Australia
Brazil
Canada
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Portugal
South Africa
Spain
Switzerland
Ukraine
United States
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| USA, 1988, Scott #2188, Harvey Cushing |
Harvey Cushing, an American neurosurgeon. A pioneer of brain surgery, he was the first person to describe Cushing's disease. He is often called the father of modern neurosurgery.
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| USA, 1988, Scott #2180, Chester Carlson |
Chester Carlson, an American physicist, inventor, and patent attorney. He is best known for having invented the process of electrophotography and was subsequently renamed xerography. So if you have ever made a Xerox copy, you can thank Carlson.
Ephraim McDowell, an American physician and pioneer surgeon. The first person to successfully remove an ovarian tumor, he has been called "the father of ovariotomy" as well as founding father of abdominal surgery and in particular lithotomy (kidney stone removal).
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| USA, 1959, Scott # 1138, Ephraim McDowell |
Harvey W. Wiley (1956) Chemist, known as the “Father of the FDA”.
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| USA, 1956, Scott #1080, Harvey W. Wiley |
