Walter Reed, an Army surgeon and medical researcher, helped discover that mosquitoes transmitted yellow fever, an infectious, sometimes fatal, disease. During his career, Reed also made contributions toward the control of malaria and typhoid. Although some questioned his practice of using humans as test subjects for his yellow fever work, his findings saved thousands of lives. In honor of his efforts to control epidemics, the Army General Hospital in Washington D.C. was named after Reed.

The youngest of five children, Reed was born on September 13, 1851 in Belroi, Virginia, to Lemuel Sutton Reed, a Methodist minister, and Pharaba White. His father's ministry took the family to different parishes every few years and, as a result, Reed's early education was somewhat sporadic. In 1865, however, Reed began two years of study under William R. Abbot. He entered the University of Virginia at age fifteen and, a year later, took a...