Maurice Friedman

Maurice Harold Friedman (October 27, 1903 – March 8, 1991) was an American physician, gastroenterologist, and reproductive-physiology researcher. He is known for the development of the rabbit test, a pregnancy test developed in 1931 while he was teaching at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Biography Friedman was born on October 27, 1903, in Gary, Indiana, United States. Aged 16, he entered the University of Chicago and was awarded a bachelor's degree and a doctorate, both in physiology and medicine. From 1928, he taught at the University of Pennsylvania in physiology. At the Perelman School of Medicine, he developed the rabbit test in 1931, a pregnancy test. Female rabbits were injected with a woman's urine and to proof a pregnancy, the rabbit was killed and its ovaries inspected for corpora lutea and corpora hemorrhagicum, with their presence confirming a pregnancy. When asked whether the test was reliable, Friedman answered:

Friedman died of cancer after a long illness on March 8, 1991, at his home in Sarasota, Florida.

Selected publications