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Analysis of biographies of 319 physicians (302 men and 17 women) born from 1880 to 1904, who died from natural causes, was carried out on the basis of annals of medical universities in Poland. Due to small number of women they were excluded from further analysis. There were no statistically significant differences in duration of life between medical scientists- professors, Ph.D. (n = 212, mean = 73.9 +/- 10 yrs) and physicians with the doctor's degree or without any scientific degrees (n = 90, mean = 72.6 +/- 11.4) and among medical scientists working in different fields--basic research (n = 42, mean = 75.1 +/- 9.7), non-invasive disciplines (n = 64, mean = 72.0 +/- 9.9), surgical disciplines (n = 89, mean = 74.4 +/- 11.0), disciplines with limited contact with patients (n = 17, mean = 75.8 +/- 9.0). Average life expectancy at the age of sixty in the whole examined group (16.1 +/- 8.6 yrs) was not statistically different from the general population of men born in the same period (15.1 yrs).