René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (February 17, 1781- August 13, 1826) was a French physician an inventor of the stethoscope. Dr. Laennec was born in Quimper, Brittany and studied medicine at the Hôpital de la Charité, Paris qualifying in 1804. He invented the stethoscope in 1816, while working at the Hôpital Necker.