Abstract

Konstantin Konik, a politician, physician and teacher was a pioneer in the development of medical terminology in the Estonian language. The popular scientific publications published in the early 20th century were among the first sources of medical information that spread widely among the general public. Working at popular science writings provided him and numerous other authors with a significant experience in the composition of future articles. Konik`s scientific career began with the publication of several articles in Russian journals in 1905-1906 and the defence of his thesis in 1908. The experience acquired from the publication of scientific articles in foreign languages, as well as of popular scientific articles in Estonian, al lowed Konik to present the very first medical lecture in Estonian in the Assembly Hall of the University of Tartu in 1920. In 1922 he also succeeded in publishing the first Estonian-language medical article in the Estonian Medical Journal. He went on to publish five more articles in that journal in the years to follow. The development of medical terminology by Konik enabled Albert Valdes to defend the first doctoral thesis in medicine in the Estonian language in 1922. Konik played an outstanding role in the use of Estonian as a scientific language and in the development of medical terms in Estonian.