Medical instructor and researcher Virginia Apgar (1909-1974) revolutionized the field of perinatology--the care of infants around the time of birth--with her development of the Apgar Newborn Scoring System. Her method of rating a newborn's health in five major categories allows doctors to quickly establish if a child requires medical attention. Implementation of this basic practice throughout the United States and around the world resulted in a significant increase in infant survival rates.

Virginia Apgar contributed to many areas of medicine during her career, including anesthesiology, infant care, and the study and prevention of birth defects. It was her work with new babies and mothers, however, that has left the greatest mark in the health sciences. She was the creator of the Apgar Newborn Scoring System, a method of evaluating the health of infants minutes after birth in order to ensure the delivery of proper care. Apgar also contributed...