Walter Reed

Born

September 13, 1851

Died

November 22, 1902 (aged 51)

Known as

military physician, zoologist, entomologist, army officer

Walter Reed was a U.S. Army physician who in 1901 led the team that confirmed the theory of Cuban-American doctor Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito species rather than by direct contact. This insight gave impetus to the new fields of epidemiology and biomedicine, and most immediately allowed the resumption and completion of work on the Panama Canal (1904–1914) by the United States. Reed followed work started by Finlay and directed by George Miller Sternberg, who has been called the "first U.S. bacteriologist".

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