Greek physician, recognized as the father of medicine. He
is believed to have been born on the island of Cos, to have
studied under his father, a physician, to have traveled for
some time, perhaps studying in Athens, and to have then
returned to practice, teach, and write at Cos. The
Hippocratic or Coan school that formed around him was of
enormous importance in separating medicine from superstition
and philosophic speculation, placing it on a strictly
scientific plane based on objective observation and critical
deductive reasoning.
[ The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition ]