Jean-François Coindet (July 12, 1774 – February 11, 1834) was a Swiss physician and researcher who is known for introducing

iodine Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid at standard conditions that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...

as a treatment of

goitre A goitre, or goiter, is a swelling in the neck resulting from an enlarged thyroid gland. A goitre can be associated with a thyroid that is not functioning properly. Worldwide, over 90% of goitre cases are caused by iodine deficiency. The term is ...

. Jean-François Coindet was born on July 12, 1774, in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

as the son of Jean Jacques Coindet and Catherine Gros. He married Catherine Walker, the daughter of Charles Walker who owned a tavern in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Jean-François attended school in Geneva but there was no medical school in Geneva at the time, so he went to

in 1792 to study medicine. Coindet received his medical degree in 1797 with a thesis about

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

(''De Variolis''). Coindet returned to Geneva in 1799 and obtained a position at the Geneva Hospital. From 1809 to 1831, he was chief physician at the hospital and furthermore he was prison physician.

Career

In order to cure goitre, Coindet introduced the iodine treatment. He observed a significant shrinking of goitres after only 8 days of iodine therapy. He made his findings public on July 21, 1820, in an article entitled ''Mémoire sur la découverte d'un nouveau remède contre le goître'' in Geneva. This was only 9 years after the initial discovery of iodine and Coindet in total wrote a series of three articles in 1820 and 1821 on the topic of iodine treatment of goitre. After his findings became public, many other physicians also began to prescribe iodine which led to a high rate of adverse effects. This led to a public controversy over the use of iodine. Coindet advised to control the dose of iodine closely to limit adverse effects. In January 1821, the local authorities in Geneva prohibited the sale of iodine unless prescribed by a doctor. His son Jean Charles Walker Coindet, also studied in Edinburgh and he finished his studies in 1821 with his thesis ''De Renum Muneribus'' i.e., About Renal Functions. He returned to Geneva in 1823, and later became a psychiatrist. In 1823, Coindet established the Medical Society of Geneva together with his son. In 1831, Coindet was awarded a major prize by the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

for his research about iodine.

Career

References

Further reading