Stamp Vignette
Gustave Roussy: Swiss-French Neurologist, Pathologist, and Cancer Institute Founder
Gustave Roussy was born on November 24, 1874, in Vevey, Switzerland, the third of 4 children of Emile-Louis Roussy (1848-1920) and Caroline Gabrielle Aguet (1850-1924). His family were Calvinist Protestants, and his Huguenot ancestors had fled from France to Switzerland after religious persecution following the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes. His father was president of the Nestlé condensed milk company from 1905-1920, which had been co-founded by Gustave’s grandfather Pierre in 1875. After his father’s death, his older brother August became the company president and contributed to the company’s growth into a global food conglomerate.Helen Clapesattle: Author of a Best-Selling Book About “The Doctors Mayo”
For many years, Drs William and Charles Mayo resisted proposals to write a biography of their lives or a comprehensive history of how Mayo Clinic came to exist. The Mayo brothers had endured negative experiences with the media during their careers, often being charged by critics with “unethical advertising” whenever an article about them appeared in a newspaper or a general audience magazine, and they did not want to authorize a potentially superficial, inaccurate story that could draw disparagement from vindictive or jealous colleagues.Austria’s Unusual Pandemic-Themed Postage Stamps: Toilet Paper, Facemask, Bandage
Since the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the postal service in Austria has issued 3 stamps that have challenged traditional assumptions of how a postage stamp should look and feel.Dr Li Wenliang: Wuhan “Whistleblower” and Early COVID-19 Victim
Li Wenliang (李文亮), MD, was an ophthalmologist in Wuhan, China, who warned several of his colleagues about the appearance of a new SARS-like virus in December 2019, at the very beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Initially reprimanded by a hospital administrator and formally admonished by the local authorities in Wuhan, he was later exonerated by the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China and, after his untimely death, honored by the central government of China as a “martyr” — one of the highest honors given to a private citizen in China.Samuel Gridley Howe: Abolitionist, Physician, and Pioneer in Education of Children With Vision Loss and Mental Disability
“Injustice in society is like a rotten timber in the foundation of a house,” was the motto and guiding principle of Samuel Gridley Howe, MD. Dr Howe was a physician, teacher, and philanthropist who spent much of his life crusading against some of the great inequalities and prejudices of his time.
