Mirko Grmek

Mirko Dražen Grmek (9 January 1924 – 6 March 2000) was a Croatian and French historian of medicine, writer and scientist. He was one of the pioneers and founders of the history of medicine. His entire opus promotes the historical research of medical knowledge and practices by means of contemporary scientific methods, especially the study of the formation of ideas in specific societies and periods. He put forward the theory of pathocenosis, the coexistence of all diseases in a specific time, place and society.

Grmek was born in Krapina, Zagorje, near Zagreb (then in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes). He went to France and joined the French Resistance in 1942. His underground activities took him to Italy, Switzerland and then back to France. When the war ended, he returned to Zagreb to study medicine. After his studies, Grmek worked as a general practitioner at first. Then he became a university professor and finally dedicated all his time to scientific work. He got his Ph.D. from the University of Zagreb. There he founded the Institute for the History of Science and edited the first local Encyclopedia of Medicine.

Graduating from the Italian Politecnico, Grmek settled in Paris in 1963. The Collège de France gave him the task of editing the notes of Claude Bernard, which was a turning point of his career, since he later become an international expert in Bernard's area of research. In 1967, Grmek became a French citizen. After graduating literature in Paris, he did research in CNRS. In 1973, Grmek became the director of the research of the history of biological and medical sciences at the École pratique des hautes études. As a doctor of science and literature, he lectured at the universities of Berkeley, Los Angeles, Geneva, Bologna and Lausanne. The University of Zagreb gave him the title of emeritus.

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