Dmitri Leonidovich Romanowsky (sometimes spelled Dmitry and Romanowski, russian: Дмитрий Леонидович Романовский; 1861–1921) was a Russian physician who is best known for his invention of an eponymous histological stain called

Romanowsky stain Romanowsky staining, also known as Romanowsky–Giemsa staining, is a prototypical staining technique that was the forerunner of several distinct but similar stains widely used in hematology (the study of blood) and cytopathology (the study of di ...

. It paved the way for the discovery and diagnosis of microscopic pathogens, such as malarial parasites. Romanowsky was born in 1861 in

Pskov Governorate Pskov Governorate (russian: link=no, Псковская губерния, ''Pskovskaya guberniya'') was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and Russian SFSR, which existed from 1772 until 1777 and from 1796 until ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He attended the 6th

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Gymnasium. In 1880, he enrolled at the

St. Petersburg University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter t ...

. He enrolled for two courses: natural science (physics and mathematics) and medicine. He concentrated on medicine in 1882 for a preparatory course to the Military Medical Academy. He graduated with honors in 1886. On 30 November 1886, he was appointed as a junior resident of the

Ivangorod Ivangorod ( rus, Иванго́род, p=ɪvɐnˈɡorət; et, Jaanilinn; vot, Jaanilidna) is a town in Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the east bank of the Narva river which flows along the Estonia–Russia inte ...

military hospital. After one month, he was transferred to the Revel local infirmary as an associate doctor. In 1889, he was attached to the Saint Petersburg Nikolaevsky Military hospital. He initially worked at the clinical department, and from May 1890, he was the head of the eye department. He obtained his medical degree in 1891. It was in that year that he published a paper in which he described the technique for staining malarial parasites from blood samples.

References

1861 births 1921 deaths Saint Petersburg State University alumni Russian ophthalmologists 19th-century physicians from the Russian Empire {{Russia-med-bio-stub