Carlo Forlanini’s Fight against Tuberculosis

Carlo Forlanini (1847–1918) developed the first effective cure of pulmonary tuberculosis before streptomycin: the therapeutic pneumothorax. His name, however, does not seem to have gained as much renown as his invention. After his death, students and colleagues worked to keep his memory alive, making him a symbol of the fight against tuberculosis in Italy. The article examines how they remembered Forlanini, through the collection of memorabilia and ‘private’ recollections and public initiatives. Among the documents preserved at the Museum for the History of Pavia University, there is an unpublished portrait of the clinician, written by one of his students, the phthisiologist Arrigo Perin. As part of construction of a national memory, an episode is also explored: the arbitrary alteration of the text of Cronin’s The Citadel in the first Italian translation during fascism, a questionable tribute to Forlanini to underline the contribution of the ‘Italian Genius’ to world medicine.