MANUEL P. GARCIA, The First Vocologist

Secundino Fernández , David Ruba, Margarita Marqués

Many people have never heard of Manuel García; others know him as an artist and singing teacher of exceptional qualities; yet others had heard of him as an extraordinary researcher and the first scientist to investigate the voice. Manuel Patricio García is chiefly known as the man who invented the laryngeal mirror, the first person to carry out a dynamic assessment of phonation, and therefore the founder of laryngology.
Recently we celebrated the 200^th year of his birthday and this year we commemorate the 100^th year of his dead.
Usually Manuel Patricio Garcia is well known by Otorhinolaryngologists but in the specialised literature, books, papers, etc... We can found many errors about him, about his nationality, about the city where he was born, the date of the laryngoscope's discovery, the date of his birthday, his tessitura. It is no well known the real history about his true surname.
The main facts in his extensive biography are reviewed, covering his career as a singer, a teacher and a scientist; The invention of the laryngoscope and the “failed attempts”; his famous family, including his father, Manuel García, and his sisters María Malibrán and Paulina Viardot; and his extensive oeuvre.We present Manuel Garcia as the first voice scientist, the first vocologist, his influence on laryngology and on the art of singing, his most famous students and the legacy of this great man nowadays.

Secundino Fernández, David Ruba, Margarita Marqués
Department of Otolarynglogy.
School of Medicine. University Hospital.
University of Navarra. Apdo. 4209. 31080
Pamplona. SPAIN.
Phone: +34948255400 ext.4681 FAX: +34948296634
sfgonzalez@unav.es