Georgios Papanikolaou

Georgios Papanikolaou
Born	13 May 1883 Kymi, Euboea, Greece
Died	19 February 1962(1962-02-19) (aged 78) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Nationality	Greek
Alma mater	University of Athens University of Munich
Known for	Cytopathology Pap smear
Spouse	Andromachi Mavrogeni ​ ​ (m. 1910)​
Awards	Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award (1950)
Scientific career
Fields	Zoology, Pathology, Biology, Microscopy
Institutions	Cornell University New York Hospital

Georgios Nikolaou Papanikolaou (or George Papanicolaou /ˌpæpəˈnɪkəlaʊ/; Greek: Γεώργιος Ν. Παπανικολάου [papanikoˈlau]; 13 May 1883 – 19 February 1962) was a Greek physician, zoologist and microscopist who was a pioneer in cytopathology and early cancer detection, and inventor of the "Pap smear".

After studying medicine in Greece and Germany, he emigrated in 1913 to the United States and was faculty at Cornell Medical College. He first reported that uterine cancer cells could be detected in vaginal smears in 1928, but his work was not widely recognized until the 1940s. An extensive trial of his techniques was carried out in the early 1950s. In 1961, he was invited to the University of Miami to lead and develop the Papanicolaou Cancer Research Institute there.