In spite of his desire to become sailor or even corsair, René Laennec finally choose the profession of physician.
Between 1815 and 1818, he works to perfect a technique of auscultation which will revolutionise medical exams by
enabling a diagnostic accuracy never reached before: medical auscultation which is done with the help of a
stethoscope, instrument which Laennec is also the inventor.
Laennec settled in Paris, where nowadays one of the biggest hospital is so named. His health was however precarious and he had to go into early retirement in his house of Kerlouarnec, near the city of Douarnenez. He died here on august the 13th 1826.
The square of the city hall of Quimper, where is also located the museum of Beaux Arts is so called. A statue of Laennec stands on a pedestal in the centre of the square.