Pedro L. Mangabeira Albernaz

Marcus Vinitius da Cruz e Mello Moraes was a poet, a diplomat, a composer of songs and a writer of lyrics. His presence in Brazil’s musical scenery was outstanding, as was that of his partners Antonio Carlos Jobim, Baden Powell, Edu Lobo, Carlos Lyra, Toquinho and several others. Vinicius de Moraes - (Ricardo Alfieri, via Wikimedia Commons) This is not a biography of Vinicius, which can be easily found. It is rather a collection of things that happened in his life and that I can assure you are all true – either I saw them happen or I was told them by close personal friends. José Marques da Costa (Zequinha) was one of Vinicius’ very special friends; whenever he came to São Paulo he would stay at Zequinha’s house. Both Zequinha and his wife Regina were also very special friends of my wife and I. Whenever Vinicius came to São Paulo, Regina would call my wife on the phone and say, “Vinicius is here. Please come and join us.” So we would drive to Zequinha’s beautiful apartment...

Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard was a French physician, born in in a small city of Provence, in 1774.  Dr. Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard  - Wikimedia Commons   He never went to a medical school. But he had to go to the army during the French Revolution and worked as an assistant physician at a military hospital, and did it very successfully. He was then appointed deputy surgeon at another military hospital in Paris, and in 1799 he became a physician at L'Institution Royale des Sourds-Muets (National Institution for Deaf Mutes). In Paris, Itard began to work with Dr. René Laennec, a famous physician, the inventor of the stethoscope. Laennec was a few years younger than Itard, but had had a formal education at the university at Nantes and later became a professor of medicine at the Collège de France.  In 1803 Itard described pneumothorax. Laennec, a few years later, described the disease in more detail. Itard's Otology Book - Wikimedia Commons In 1821, Itard ...