The care of premature babies and babies with congenital illnesses has been a problem for a long time. It wasn’t until 1922 that hospitals started housing newborns all in one place.
One of the biggest breakthroughs, however, came in the mid-19th century: the incubator. Dr. Stephane Tarnier got inspired by chicken egg incubators and developed a warm maternity ward in Paris.
However, it was probably Dr. Martin Couney who contributed the most to exposing the plight of premature babies. He did it in a really controversial way.
Dr. Couney installed a permanent display of premature baby incubators at Coney Island as a sideshow! The controversy brought great attention to the issue and led to the development of better techniques and technologies for taking care of premature babies.