Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1342

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.5 linear_foot (2 boxes, 1 oversized folder)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Samuel Bellet papers, 1925-1964, Ms. Coll. 1342, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1925-1964 (inclusive)

Creator:

Bellet, Samuel

Form:

Writings (documents), Artifacts (object genre), Certificates, Lectures, and School yearbooks

Abstract:

Samuel Bellet (1902-1971) was a Philadelphia cardiologist who had an active career as a teacher, researcher, and clinician and was considered a pioneer in the study of arrhythmias. This collection contains a small group of material relating to his career and his involvement in the medical community in Philadelphia, as well as in the United States and in Israel.

Samuel Bellet, a Philadelphia cardiologist who had an active career as a teacher, researcher, and clinician and was considered a pioneer in the study of arrhythmias, was born on August 21, 1902, in Kiev, Russia, to Alias and Pauline Belitzky. The family immigrated to the United States in 1906 and lived in Philadelphia. Bellet graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1925.

In 1947, Bellet married Jean Rosenthal (University of Pennsylvania, Class of 1941) and they were the parents of Joan. As of 1953, Bellet served as director of the Division of Cardiology at the Philadelphia General Hospital, as director of cardiovascular diseases at the Graduate Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, as a cardiologist at the Einstein Medical Center, as professor of clinical cardiology at the Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, as assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine, and as clinical professor of medicine at the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia. In 1970, the Executive Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania appointed Bellet as Emeritus Clinical Professor of Medicine.

Over the years, Bellet was president of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Heart Association, served as a consultant and advisor to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in Karachi, Pakistan, worked with the American College of Cardiology and the United States Department of State for the Medical Mission to Israel, and served as a member of the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke in 1964. He authored more than 275 papers and four books, including Clinical Disorders of the Heart Beat, which is "considered a classic text on cardiology," (Medical Affairs, 1972). He is considered "a central figure in the development of the heart pacemaker at PGH [Philadelphia General Hospital]," (Center City Philadelphian) and worked on early studies regarding the ill effects of smoking, diet, and inactivity on the heart. In 1972, Bellet's widow and the Foundation for Cardiovascular Research established The Samuel Bellet Associate Professorship of Medicine in Cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Bellet died on December 13, 1971 and is buried at the Mt. Sinai Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Works cited:

"Endowed Professorship Honors Dr. Bellet," Medical Affairs, Fall 1972

"Spruce Doctor Develops The Heart Pacemaker," Center City Philadelphian, April 1961

This collection contains a small group of material relating to the career of Samuel Bellet (1902-1971), a cardiologist who was considered a pioneer in the study of arrhythmias. The collection is arranged in chronological order and includes Bellet's yearbook from the Jefferson Medical College, lecture notes that he prepared for a course (the university at which the lectures were delivered is unknown), and a heavily annotated copy of his own book, Clinical Disorders of the Heart Beat. It is presumed that the copy was Bellet's own and that the annotations were made by him. The collection also includes a membership certificate for the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke; a plaque honoring Bellet for his service in the Medical Mission to Israel; and a replica of a Laënnec Stethoscope (courtesy of Wyeth Laboratories) with Bellet's name on the base.