Gaspard Laurent Bayle

Gaspard Laurent Bayle (August 18, 1774 - 1816) was a French physician who was a native of Vernet in Provence. He studied medicine under Jean-Nicolas Corvisart (1755-1821), and was a colleague to René Laënnec (1781-1826). Beginning in 1805 he practiced medicine at the Charité in Paris. He was an uncle to physician Antoine Laurent Bayle (1799-1859).

Bayle is remembered for his extensive work in pathological anatomy, and contributions made in the research of cancer and tuberculosis. As the result of 900 post-mortem investigations, he described six different types of tuberculosis, which he called ulcerous phthisis, calculous phthisis, cancerous phthisis, tubercular phthisis, glandular phthisis and phthisis with melanosis. His best known written work was the 1810 Recherches sur la phthisie pulmonaire (Research of Pulmonary Tuberculosis). He also penned a treatise on cancerous diseases that was published posthumously in 1833 by his nephew, Antoine Bayle.