Dmitri Leonidovich Romanowsky | |
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Дмитрий Леонидович Романовский | |
Born | 1861 Pskov Governorate, Russia |
Died | 1921 | (aged 59–60)
Nationality | Russian |
Alma mater | St. Petersburg University |
Known for | Romanowsky stain |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Medicine Histochemistry |
Institutions | Ivangorod military hospital Revel local infirmary Saint Petersburg Nikolaevsky military hospital |
Thesis | On the question of parasitology and therapy of malaria (1891) |
Dmitri Leonidovich Romanowsky (sometimes spelled Dmitry and Romanowski, Russian: Дмитрий Леонидович Романовский;[1] 1861–1921) was a Russian physician who is best known for his invention of an eponymous histological stain called Romanowsky stain. It paved the way for the discovery and diagnosis of microscopic pathogens, such as malarial parasites,[2] and later developments of new histological stains that became fundamental to microbiology and physiology.[3]
While working on his doctoral research, Romanowsky developed the first effective staining method for malarial parasite in 1890. Using a specific mixture of mouldy methylene blue and eosin, he found that malarial parasites could be distinctively identified from other blood cell and within the red blood cells. The chemical reaction of such staining is known in chemistry as "Romanowsky effect". The method became the gold standard in malaria detection by microscopy and general immunohistochemistry. British zoologist and science historian, Francis Edmund Gabriel Cox remarked the discovery as a serendipitous case that became "one of the most significant technical advances in the history of parasitology."[4]