Virginia Apgar
American obstetrical anesthesiologist (1909-1974)
Biography
Virginia Apgar was an American physician, obstetrical anesthesiologist and medical researcher, best known as the inventor of the Apgar score, a way to quickly assess the health of a newborn child immediately after birth in order to combat infant mortality. In 1952, she developed the 10-point Apgar score to assist physicians and nurses in assessing the status of newborns. Given at one minute and five minutes after birth, the Apgar test measures a child's breathing, skin color, reflexes, motion, and heart rate. A friend said, "She probably did more than any other physician to bring the problem of birth defects out of back rooms." She was a leader in the fields of anesthesiology and teratology, and introduced obstetrical considerations to the established field of neonatology.
Occupation
Virginia Apgar is recorded as a pediatrician, a university teacher and a anesthesiologist, born in New Jersey (1909–1974).
Connections to New Jersey
Virginia Apgar was born in Westfield, New Jersey in 1909. Explore other notable figures from New Jersey, historic sites connected to this era, and the full colonial and statehood history of the state using the links below.
Everything a full report reveals about Westfield
Virginia Apgar came from Westfield. A full Aubrey report on Westfield pulls together everything the historical record holds about that place, from the first settlers to the twentieth century:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
More notable figures from New Jersey
Other historical figures born in New Jersey, ranked by historical prominence.
Frequently asked about Virginia Apgar
Biographical content adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Source: Wikipedia.
Research the history of any US location
Aubrey searches federal archives, archaeological records, historic registers, and primary sources to build a full historical report for any address or place in the United States.






