Nationality German Name Martin Couney Spouse(s) Annabelle May Role Physician | Profession Physician Specialism Neonatal incubators Fields Neonatology | |
 | ||
Born December 31, 1860 or December 30, 1870 ( 1860-12-311870-12-30 ) Alsace or Breslau Died March 1, 1950, Coney Island, New York City, New York, United States | ||
Martin Arthur Couney (1870–March 1, 1950) was a physician and pioneer in neonatology. Though he claimed to have been a student of Pierre-Constant Budin, this claim cannot be verified. There is good reason to believe that he was not a trained medical doctor at all. He is best known for helping parents of premature infants by placing them in neonatal incubators when they were not allowed in most hospitals. He operated exhibits of premature infants at the Berlin Exposition of 1896, at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska in 1898, at the World's Fair in Paris in 1900, at the World's Fair in Buffalo, New York in 1901, and most famously, for many years at Coney Island, New York, where he charged 25 cents to view the babies so parents would not have to pay for their children's medical care. His exhibition at Luna Park opened in 1903. Incubators were included in hospitals shortly before his death in 1950.
