Harvey Cushing

He was the first exclusive neurosurgeon and developed many of the basic techniques for brain surgery.

Harvey Cushing was an American neurosurgeon, pathologist, writer and draftsman, known as the "father of modern neurosurgery". He was the first exclusive neurosurgeon and the first person to describe Cushing's disease. At the beginning of the 20th century he developed many of the basic surgical techniques for operating on the brain, and under his influence neurosurgery became a new and autonomous surgical discipline. He considerably improved the survival of patients after difficult brain operations for intracranial tumors.

He brought the Riva-Rocci sphygmomanometer to North America, and blood pressure measurement became a vital sign.

The article calls his introduction of blood pressure measurement to North America arguably his greatest contribution. Cushing visited the Italian physician Scipione Riva-Rocci, who had developed a mercury manometer linked to a balloon-inflated cuff. Cushing returned to the US with a sample of Riva-Rocci's sphygmomanometer, and blood pressure measurement became a vital sign. The device's use spread rapidly across the US and Western world.