The heritage of Bernardino Ramazzini

Although the seminal work in what was to become the specialty of occupational medicine appeared in 1700 as written by the Italian physician, Bernardino Ramazzini and titled De Morbis Artificum Diatriba, it was through the English translation by Wilmer Cave Wright in 1940 and and the subsequent scholarship of Dr Pericle Di Pietro of Modena, Italy, that this monograph became widely known. Ramazzini has been cited by innumerable medical authors and his volume has undergone many translations from the mid-18th century to the present day. References to this early observations of persons and work and their subsequent disease patterns repeatedly infuse today's description of work-related illness. That his pioneering efforts continue to receive adulation is seen in the organizations bearing his name, many eponymous awards, the striking Ramazzini Hall in Japan, and the continuing appearance of new reprintings of Diseases of Workers world-wide. The name Ramazzini marks the beginning of society's concern with the well-being and physical and emotional health of its workers from the shops of the crafts to the offices of the executives.