Leopold Auenbrugger invented the method of percussion for the diagnosis of chest diseases. He was born the son of an innkeeper in Graz, Austria. A student of Gerard van Swieten (1700-1772), he received his medical degree from the University of Vienna in 1752. From 1751 to 1762, he practiced medicine at the Spanish Military Hospital in Vienna and there became an expert on chest diseases. After serving as the hospital's chief physician from 1758 to 1762, he practiced medicine privately in Vienna for the rest of his life. A man of varied and cultivated interests, he contributed the libretto for Antonio Salieri's (1750-1825) comic opera Der Rauchfangkehrer in 1781. Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (1741-1790) elevated him to the nobility in 1784.

In 1754, Auenbrugger discovered that sounds made by striking the chest gently but firmly with the fingertips would vary according to the health or condition of the chest. This technique, which he named "percussion...