Pedro L. Mangabeira Albernaz

Gabriele Falloppio was one of the great anatomists of the sixteenth century, a follower of Vesalius. He as born in Modena in 1523 and died in Padua in 1562. He belonged to a noble family that was, however, very poor. The family’s financial difficulties made him join the clergy. In 1542 he became the canon at Modena's cathedral. He then decided to study medicine, graduating at the University of Ferrara in 1548. Portrait of Fallopio - Wikimedia Commons On receiving his degree he became professor of Anatomy in Ferrara, then at the University of Pisa in 1549 and in 1551 moved to the University of Padua where he worked until his death. He was also a professor of botany and was superintendent of the botanical gardens. His accomplishments in anatomy were quite important, even though he died before reaching the age of 40; the cause of his death is unknown. He was noted for his modesty and deference to his fellow workers and especially to Vesalius. Whenever his studies led to diff...

In 1965 I went to Tokyo for my first World Congress of Otolaryngology. It was a big adventure.  I flew from Campinas to Lima, then to Los Angeles, on a Varig Boeing 707; spent a night on a hotel near the LA airport, then flew from LA to Tokyo in a Japan Air Lines DC-8, with stops on Honolulu and Wake Island. I remember leaving LA at 10:00 AM and arriving in Tokyo at 5:00 PM of the following day. It took me three days to be able to sleep. A 12-hour jet leg is difficult to overcome, even though I was young. The Meeting, however, was excellent, and very well organized. There was a small group of Brazilians attending the Meeting. One of them was a Nissei – a first generation Brazilian born Japanese. His name was Miiko Imamura. On the first day of the Meeting he took me and some other Brazilians for a quick lunch in a small restaurant close to the Convention Center. He talked to the waiter in fluent Japanese and the waiter took us to a nice table and brought menus for all of us...