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During the 1930s and '40s, Dr. Virginia Apgar noticed a troubling trend involving newborns.
While the infant mortality rate in the US had declined, the rate of infant deaths within the first 24 hours after birth remained constant. As an obstetric anesthesiologist, Apgar was able to identify physical characteristics that could distinguish healthy newborns from those in trouble.
Apgar's observations led to the development in 1952 of the Apgar score, a quick and convenient method for immediately evaluating how well the newborn weathered the birthing process, especially the effects of obstetric anesthesia.
To honor Apgar's contribution to neonatology -- the medical care of newborn infants -- Google dedicated its Doodle Thursday to the doctor on her 109th birthday.
Generally conducted one and five minutes after birth, the test assigns a score of zero to two for each of five criteria: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration (APGAR). Scores of seven and higher are generally normal, four to six fairly low, and three and lower are generally regarded as critically low. The test helps medical personnel determine whether a newborn needs immediate medical care.
The test spread through US hospitals in the 1960s, proving a useful measurement for quickly assessing a newborn's physical condition. The technique is still used in hospitals throughout the US.
Apgar graduated fourth in her class at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1933, and in 1949 became the first woman named a full professor at the school.
In 1959, she embarked on a second career, earning a master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Armed with her new degree, she went to work at the March of Dimes Foundation, directing research to prevent and treat birth defects.
She also published more than 60 scientific articles and several essays for newspapers and magazines during her career. Her 1972 book Is My Baby All Right? explains the causes and treatment of common birth defects and proposes precautions to help improve the chances of having a healthy baby.
Apgar died at the age of 65 in 1974.
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Thursday’s Google Doodle celebrates the birthday of Dr. Virginia Apgar, whose Apgar Score has saved countless lives. She was born on June 7, 1909.
Dr. Virginia Apgar, who would have been 109 years old today (she died in 1974), was the obstetric anesthetist who developed the Apgar Score test for the health of newborn babies that is still used around the world today.
The Apgar Score’s name is not just that of its creator — each letter refers to a part of the test.
Today’s #GoogleDoodle celebrates obstetrical anesthesiologist Dr. Virginia Apgar, who invented the Apgar score as a way to quickly assess a newborn's health → https://t.co/j7q4rv1yfE pic.twitter.com/FmdsoZNx2E — Google (@Google) June 7, 2018
The Apgar test examines:
Appearance (is the newborn a healthy color or blueish?)
Pulse (is it above or below 100 beats per minute, or undetectable?)
Grimace (what response does the baby make when reflexes are stimulated?)
Activity (how much are legs and arms moving?)
Respiration (how strong is the baby’s breathing?)
JAN 26 1962, 3-13-1962; L to R: James P. Eakins and Virginia Apgar; (Photo By Bill Peters/The Denver Post via Getty Images) Bill Peters Denver Post via Getty Images
The Apgar Score is what’s known as a “backronym” — the words were only chosen after the Dr. Apgar‘s test had gone into practice in 1952, in order to help people remember the elements of the test.
COOL: This morning's @GoogleDoodles honors Virginia Apgar (MPH '59) on what would have been her 109th birthday. As a researcher and maternal and child health advocate, Dr. Apgar developed the 10-point "Apgar Score" used to assess the health of newborns. https://t.co/7OV7sxNT4a pic.twitter.com/YfVMhzsrL1 — JHU Public Health (@JohnsHopkinsSPH) June 7, 2018
Each of these categories in Dr. Apgar’s test earns the baby between zero and two points, depending on the health of the response. The theoretical maximum is 10, but this is rare. An Apgar Score between 4 and 6 may mean some medical intervention is needed. An Apgar Score below four may mean resuscitation is needed. The Apgar test is conducted a minute after birth, and again four minutes later, in order to judge the effectiveness of intervention.
Dr. Apgar developed the test after noticing that, even though the general U.S. infant mortality rate fell between the 1930s and 1950s, it remained constant for babies within the first day of life.
Who was Dr. Virginia Apgar? She developed the Apgar Score, the first standardized method to monitor a baby's health after being born. 👶 Today, the Apgar Score is used throughout the world, and has saved countless lives. https://t.co/UaE1I3eCAf pic.twitter.com/M2LZO9fXuv — HHS.gov (@HHSGov) June 7, 2018
Apart from developing her famous scoring exercise, Dr. Apgar was a notable advocate for universal vaccination in order to combat the rubella epidemic of the mid-Sixties. In her later years, she worked for March of Dimes, a non-profit founded by President Franklin Roosevelt that initially targeted polio but went on to focus on the prevention of birth defects.
Even before she developed the Apgar Score, Dr. Apgar had already become the first female full professor at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She received a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University in 1959, and was a director at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which is know known as the March of Dimes.
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Virginia Apgar, the American obstetrical anesthetist who is renowned as the inventor of the Apgar score, has been honoured in the Google Doodle for June 7, 2018 on what would have been her 109th birthday.
Dr. Virginia Apgar remains an important figure in neonatology to this day, due to the standardised method that she created to assess a newborn baby’s health continuing to be used.
For this life-saving discovery, Apgar has also received many accolades for improving the infant mortality rate in the US. But who was Dr. Virginia Apgar?
Virginia Apgar has been honoured in the Google Doodle for June 7, 2018 on her 109th birthday
Who was Virginia Apgar?
Born on June 7, 1909, in Westfield, New Jersey to a father who was an insurance executive but had an interest in invention and astronomy, Virginia was also encouraged to take an interest in science.
In addition to this, her career in medicine could have also been as a result of one of her brothers dying of tuberculosis and another suffering from a chronic illness.
After leaving high school, Virginia knew she wanted to become a doctor and went on to study zoology with minors in physiology and chemistry at Mount Holyoke College in 1929.
She then graduated fourth in her class from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she also completed a residency in 1937.
However, because so many female surgeons had tried to launch their careers but had ultimately failed, Virginia was discouraged from moving her career in this direction by Dr. Allen Whipple.
She was encouraged to practice anesthesiology and trained under Dr. Ralph Waters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the first anesthesiology department in the US.
After training under Dr. Ernest Rovenstine in New York, Virginia became a fully-fledged anesthesiologist in 1927 and went back to P&S to become the director of a new division of anesthesia for 10 years.
In 1959, Virginia graduated with Master of Public Health from John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.
She went on to work to conduct research on birth defects for the March of Dimes Foundation and linked gestational age to the problem of premature birth.
Apgar was also an advocate for universal vaccination during the rubella pandemic of 1964-5 and travelled the US, spreading the message of how important birth defect detection is.
She has published over 60 scientific articles as well as other shorter essays for newspapers and magazines, for which she has received many awards.
Her 1972 book Is My Baby All Right? explains the causes and treatment of common birth defects and proposes precautions to help improve the chances of having a healthy baby.
Dr. Virginia Apgar never married and died of cirrhosis of the liver on August 7, 1974 at Colombia-Presbyterian Medical Center.
Apgar score
The US infant mortality rate between the 1930s and 1950s decreased despite the number of infant deaths within the first 24 hours after birth remaining constant.
Apgar picked up on this and investigated trends that revealed the difference between healthy infants and babies in trouble.
After intensive research, Virginia invented a method of measuring how healthy a newborn baby is, which was called the Apgar score.
This widely used technique gives every newborn a score of 0, 1 or 2, with 2 meaning that the baby is in optimal condition, for appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration (APGAR).
The scores for the five categories are then compiled and an infant with a 10 would be in the best possible condition.
A baby is scored one minute after birth with additional measurements being made at five minute intervals if the infant’s condition did not improve.
What is a Google Doodle?
Virginia Apgar has been honoured in the Google Doodle for June 7, 2018, on what would have been her 109th birthday.
Google Doodles mark important events around the world with creative illustrations on the search engine’s homepage and is incorporated into the Google logo.
The first Google Doodle marked Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s visit to the 1998 Burning Man Festival and was a stick-man standing behind the second ‘o’ in the Google logo.
Today, a team of illustrators, graphic designers, animators and artists work on the Google Doodles and the logos are hyperlinked to a page that provides more information about the cultural event celebrated.
Recent Google Doodles have celebrated Tom Longboat, Heinz Sielmann and S.P.L Sorensen.
