Incubators: A Graphic History

Description

When babies are born early, they often have trouble surviving. But special containers called incubators help babies grow by keeping them warm and protected. At first, people in the medical world were skeptical about incubators. But some trailblazing doctors believed in the technology--and put it on display across Europe and the United States. Incubator exhibits showed the public how incubators saved lives. The controversial displays led people to accept this medical innovation. Meet the doctors who invented the incubator, and follow the incubator's fascinating rise with this graphic history.

Paige Polinsky is a writer, copy editor, and professional freelancer based in Minnesota. She writes across many industries, from children's nonfiction to veterinary medicine. She is interested in the judicial system and loves to apply her skills to the legal field. Josep Rural is a European illustrator who has worked on popular science projects such as medical apps and books about diseases. He has also worked on several European comic magazines and currently works for various humorous publications.

The practice of using incubators to support premature infants goes back to the 1870s. Despite notable success, most doctors looked upon incubators with suspicion and refused to provide funding. This led innovators to offset expenses by setting up viewing galleries where people would buy tickets to see the tiny babies. This graphic history, part of the Medical Breakthroughs series (6 titles), does an effective job of revisiting these bizarre practices while explaining how incubators help preemies, how the technology has evolved, and how incubators have become hospital fixtures. The illustrations are especially effective in showing how a very inexpensive wax-based incubator created by Stanford University students is saving thousands of babies every year. This graphic offering delivers a surprising amount of information in an accessible, attractive package.--Booklist -- "Journal" (4/1/2022 12:00:00 AM)