Ernst von Bergmann

Ernst von Bergmann
Ernst von Bergmann
Born	16 December 1836 Riga, Livonia Governorate
Died	25 March 1907 Wiesbaden
Nationality	Baltic German
Fields	Surgeon
Institutions	University of Berlin
Alma mater	University of Dorpat
Known for	sterilisation of surgical instruments

Ernst von Bergmann (16 December 1836 – 25 March 1907) was a Baltic German surgeon. He is the beginner of aseptic surgery.

Born in Riga, Livonia Governorate (now Latvia), in 1860 he earned his doctorate at the University of Dorpat, and later returned to Dorpat in 1871, where he was a professor of surgery until 1878. After spending a few years as a professor at Würzburg, he moved to the University of Berlin in 1882, where he remained for the remainder of his career. Two of his assistants in Berlin were Curt Schimmelbusch (1860–1895) and Friedrich Gustav von Bramann (1854–1913). His son, Gustav von Bergmann (1878–1955) was a noted doctor of internal medicine.

Bergmann was the first physician to introduce heat sterilisation of surgical instruments, thus greatly reducing the number of infections in surgery. Thus increased the responsibility of the surgeon for the inflammation after procedures. He was a surgeon in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), where he gained experience treating cranial trauma and neurological disorders. Bergmann published several surgical works, including a classic treatise on cranial surgery titled Die Chirurgische Behandlung der Hirnkrankheiten.

With Friedrich von Bramann and English physician Morrell Mackenzie (1837–1892), he attended to Frederick III (1831–1888), when the emperor was dying of laryngeal cancer. Bergmann died in Wiesbaden. Today, the "Ernst von Bergmann Clinical Center" in Potsdam and the Ernst-von-Bergmann-Kaserne in Munich are named in his honor.

References

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.

• Czymek, R; Düsel W (March 2007). "[On the centennial of Ernst von Bergmann's death]". Der Chirurg; Zeitschrift für alle Gebiete der operativen Medizen (Germany) 78 (3): 265–8, 270–2. doi:10.1007/s00104-006-1299-8. ISSN 0009-4722. PMID 17287931. 
• Blair, J S G (June 2006). "Ernst Von Bergmann". Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps (England) 152 (2): 108–9. ISSN 0035-8665. PMID 17175776. 
• Zimmermann, M (2000). "[Life and work of the surgeon Ernst von Bergmann (1836–1907), long-term editor of the "Zentralblatt für Chirurgie"]". Zentralblatt für Chirurgie (GERMANY) 125 (6): 552–60. ISSN 0044-409X. PMID 10919251. 
• Salcman, M (June 1996). "Ernst von Bergmann performs a brain operation by Franz Skarbina". Neurosurgery (UNITED STATES) 38 (6): 1254–5. doi:10.1227/00006123-199606000-00046. ISSN 0148-396X. PMID 8727161. 
• Luther, B; Wirth I (1986). "[The development of surgery by Ernst von Bergmann]". Zentralblatt für Chirurgie (GERMANY, EAST) 111 (22): 1389–97. ISSN 0044-409X. PMID 3548162.