Robert Abbe (April 13, 1851 – March 7, 1928) was an American surgeon and pioneer

radiologist Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiat ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He was born in New York City and educated at the College of the City of New York (S.B., 1871) and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(M.D., 1874). Abbe was most known as a

plastic surgeon Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniof ...

, and between 1877 and 1884 he served as a surgeon and professor of surgery at New York Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital, and Native_American_ Native_American_Artifact_(archaeology)">artifacts_and_archeological.html" ;"title="Artifact_(archaeology).html" ;"title="Native Americans in the United States">Native American Artifact (archaeology)">artifacts and archeological">Artifact_(archaeology).html" ;"title="Native Americans in the United States">Native American Artifact (archaeology)">artifacts and archeological materials. He is credited with the lip switch flap, which now bears his name. An Italian surgeon named Sabattini described the flap 60 years earlier. Although Sabattini published his technique, it was printed in a book with a limited circulation. He died of anemia, possibly due to his work Radiation poisoning, handling

radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rathe ...

Radiologist

Abbe was a renowned surgeon and medical pioneer. He was an attending surgeon at Roosevelt Hospital (now Mount Sinai West) in New York, where the plastic surgical laboratory is named for him. He was a lecturer and fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and Vice President of the Academy of Medicine. He befriended the Curies, and in particular

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

. He collected many photographs of her, documented the production of

, and explored, with her, the medical uses of radiation and

x-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

s. In 1904, he introduced the practice of using radiation to treat cancer and founded the science of

radiation oncology Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radia ...

. In 1927, he founded the

Abbe Museum The Abbe Museum is a museum with two locations in Bar Harbor, Maine, on Mount Desert Island. The museum is dedicated to exploring the history and culture of Maine's Native people, the Wabanaki. It has one location at 26 Mount Desert Street in th ...

of Native American artifacts. In 1904, after corresponding with Professor and Madame Curie, he visited their laboratories in Paris. Joining in their groundbreaking research, he became the founder of radiation therapy in the United States. He was a vigorous opponent of the use of tobacco which he considered a cause of cancer and reported over 100 cases of smoker's cancer. In later years, at his Bar Harbor summer home, "Brook End," Abbe created a garden in whose pool floated two swans – Pierre and Marie.

Museum

Abbe has been called "the best-loved summer resident of Bar Harbor." Those who knew him recognized his unique spirit, and many who visit the Museum today feel the specialness of the man and the museum. While summering in Bar Harbor, Abbe was fascinated by the ancient Native American tools found in nearby shell heaps. As he began collecting these artifacts, he realized the need for safe permanent storage. Even during a long illness, probably a result of his exposure to radium, he labored to establish the museum. His dreams of a museum became reality with the help of friends such as

George Dorr George Bucknam Dorr (December 29, 1853 – August 5, 1944) was an American preservationist. Known as the "father of Acadia National Park,"

and Charles Eliot, the founding fathers of Acadia National Park. The dedication of the museum on August 14, 1928 was also a memorial to Robert Abbe. He had died just five months before. Abbe amassed a sizeable collection of Native American archaeological material during his summers on Mount Desert Island. Opened in 1928, the Abbe was one of the first museums built in Maine. Its founding coincided with that of the national park, which was established as Lafayette National Park in 1919 and became Acadia in 1929. The Abbe was conceived as a trailside museum to complement the park's offerings. Today it is one of only two remaining private trailside museums in national parks, the other one being the Borax Museum in

Death Valley, California Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in North A ...

. Robert Abbe was a man of many talents and interests. He was a photographer and an artist, painting, creating line drawings and molded maps. His large map "The Land of Dawn" is on display in the museum. The watercolor sketch on the right, of the museum, was completed by Abbe shortly before his death.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbe, Robert American radiologists American oncologists American plastic surgeons Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni City College of New York alumni 1851 births 1928 deaths Deaths from anemia