Augustin Jacob Landré-Beauvais (1772–1840) was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

 best known for his description of rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...

. Born in Orléans

Orléans

-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...

, he studied under Pierre-Joseph Desault

Pierre-Joseph Desault

Pierre-Joseph Desault was a French anatomist and surgeon.He was destined for a career in the Church, but his own inclination was towards the study of medicine; after learning something from the barber-surgeon of his native village, he was settled as an apprentice in the military hospital of...

 and Marie François Xavier Bichat

Marie François Xavier Bichat

Marie François Xavier Bichat , French anatomist and physiologist, was born at Thoirette .Bichat is best remembered as the father of modern histology and pathology. Despite the fact that he worked without a microscope he was able to advance greatly the understanding of the human body...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, and then from 1792 under Jean Louis Petit

Jean Louis Petit

Jean-Louis Petit was a French surgeon, and the inventor of the tourniquet. He was first enthusiastic about anatomy, received a master's certificate in surgery in Paris in 1700. He became a member of the French Royal Academy of Sciences in 1715, and was named director of the French Royal Academy of...

 in Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

. In 1796 he obtained an internship at the famed Salpêtrière Hospital

Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital

The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital is a teaching hospital located in Paris, France. Part of the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, it is one of Europe's largest hospitals...

, where he assisted Philippe Pinel

Philippe Pinel

Philippe Pinel was a French physician who was instrumental in the development of a more humane psychological approach to the custody and care of psychiatric patients, referred to today as moral therapy...

. He was appointed professor of clinical medicine at the Salpêtrière in 1799. After the restoration, he also held the professorship at the Paris polytechnic school. He was removed in 1830 at the insistence of King Louis-Philippe of France

Louis-Philippe of France

Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...

.

His description of rheumatoid arthritis, now regarded as the first modern-day account of the disease, incorrectly identified it as a form of gout

Gout

Gout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. The metatarsal-phalangeal joint at the base of the big toe is the most commonly affected . However, it may also present as tophi, kidney stones, or urate...

. Before Landré-Beauvais, several other physicians had already discovered that it may be distinct from gout. The name "rheumatoid arthritis" itself was coined in 1859 by Alfred Baring Garrod

Alfred Baring Garrod

Sir Alfred Baring Garrod FRS was an English physician.He was born in Ipswich, the son of Robert and Sarah Garrod.He initially apprenticed at Ipswich Hospital, and later moved to University College Hospital, where he earned his medical doctorate in 1843. Afterwards he was an assistant at West...

. Landré-Beauvais' other preserved work, Séméiotique, ou traité des signes des maladies (initially published in 1809) concerns the physical signs of medical illnesses in general.