History
Bilateral renal agenesis (BRA) was first recognized as a defect of human fetal development in 1671 by Wolfstrigel.
In 1946, Edith Potter (b.1901 - d.1993) described a series of 20 cases with absent kidneys, noting the characteristic appearance of the head and lungs. Up until this time, the condition itself was considered to be extremely rare. However, in part to Potter's work, it has come to light that the condition presents far more frequently than previously reported. Potter analyzed approximately 5000 autopsy cases performed on fetuses and newborn infants over a period of ten years and found that 20 of these infants presented with BRA, all of which had distinctive facial characteristics. These facial characteristics have subsequently been termed as being known as Potter facies. From her analysis, she was able to deduce the sequence of events that leads to what is now known as Potter sequence.
Potter went on to become a pioneer in the field of human renal development and her contributions are still employed and appreciated by clinicians and researchers to this day.
Read more about this topic: Potter Sequence
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Every member of the family of the future will be a producer of some kind and in some degree. The only one who will have the right of exemption will be the mother ...”
—Ruth C. D. Havens, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“Boys forget what their country means by just reading “the land of the free” in history books. Then they get to be men, they forget even more. Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books.”
—Sidney Buchman (1902–1975)
“Like their personal lives, women’s history is fragmented, interrupted; a shadow history of human beings whose existence has been shaped by the efforts and the demands of others.”
—Elizabeth Janeway (b. 1913)