Ioannis Kardamatis (1859–1942): the debate on the fall of ancient Greece and the chair of tropical diseases and parasitology at the Medical School of Athens

Abstract

Ioannis Kardamatis was born in Athens in 1859. He studied medicine at the National University of Athens (in 1932, it was renamed to National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) and specialized in internal medicine and pediatrics in Paris and Brussels. He pioneered the anti-malaria battle in Greece in 1905. In 1909, he was elected lecturer at the Chair of Tropical Diseases and Parasitology at the Medical School of Athens. Moreover, he debated on the erroneous theory of Sir Ronald Ross (1857–1932) and William Henry Samuel Jones (1876–1963) proving that malaria did not provoke the fall of ancient Greece. His original work on malaria comprised more than 150 scientific papers, including monographs. The French Government and Paris Medical Academy awarded his work and research on malaria. In 1915, the Medical School of Athens abolished the chair of Tropical Diseases and Parasitology but Kardamatis continued to contribute to the field of the disease.

Keywords

• kardamatis
• malaria
• sir ronald ross
• history of infectious diseases