Philippe Pinel, (born April 20, 1745, Saint-André, Tarn, Fr.—died Oct. 25, 1826, Paris), French physician who pioneered in the humane treatment of the mentally ill. Arriving in Paris (1778), he supported himself for a number of years by translating scientific and medical works and by teaching mathematics. During that period he also began visiting privately confined mental patients and writing articles on his observations. In 1792 he became the chief physician at the Paris asylum for men, Bicêtre, and made his first bold reform by unchaining patients, many of whom had been restrained for 30 to 40 years. He did