Jan Mikulicz-Radecki

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Jan Mikulicz-Radecki
Jan Mikulicz-Radecki (c. 1878).jpg
Jan Mikulicz-Radecki, 1878
Born May 16, 1850
Czernowitz (Chernivtsi), Austrian region of Bukovina
Died June 4, 1905
Świebodzice
Nationality Polish
Fields surgeon
Institutions Kraków
Königsberg
Breslau
Alma mater University of Vienna
Doctoral advisor Theodor Billroth
Influenced Ferdinand Sauerbruch
Walther Kausch
Ludwik Rydygier
Mikulicz-Radecki's grave in Świebodzice

Jan Mikulicz-Radecki (German: Johann Freiherr von Mikulicz-Radecki) was a Polish-Austrian surgeon. He was born May 16, 1850 in Czernowitz in the Austrian Empire (present-day Chernivtsi in Ukraine) and died June 4, 1905 in Freiburg in Schlesien, German Empire (present-day Świebodzice, Poland).

While his mother Freiin von Damnitz was Austrian, his parental ancestors of the Mikulicz family were of Polish-Lithuanian szlachta origin and had been granted the Gozdawa coat of arms by King John III Sobieski after the 1683 Battle of Vienna. Mikulicz-Radecki spoke Polish, German, Russian and English fluently. When asked his nationality he used to answer "surgeon".[1] After finishing studies at the University of Vienna under Theodor Billroth he was a director of surgery at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, the University of Königsberg (Królewiec, Kaliningrad) and from 1890 at the University of Wrocław.[2]

Mikulicz-Radecki's innovations in operative technique for a wide variety of diseases helped develop modern surgery. He contributed prodigiously to cancer surgery, especially on organs of the digestive system. He was first to suture a perforated gastric ulcer (1885), surgically restore part of the oesophagus (1886), remove a malignant part of the colon (1903), and describe what is now known as Mikulicz’ disease.

In 1881 he developed improved models of the esophagoscope and gastroscope. As an ardent advocate of antiseptics he did much to popularize Joseph Lister's antiseptic methods. He created a gauze mask and was the first to use gloves during surgery.

Mikulicz-Radecki was a talented amateur pianist and a friend of Johannes Brahms.[3]

He received an honorary doctorate (LL.D) from the University of Glasgow in June 1901.[4]

Associated eponyms [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Wojciech Kustzrycki: International symposium for cardiothoracic surgery 4–6 November 2004 in Wroclaw, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie - Mitteilungen 2/2005: 154-8 (PDF) (German)
  2. ^ Iłowiecki, Maciej (1981). Dzieje nauki polskiej. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Interpress. p. 196. ISBN 83-223-1876-6. 
  3. ^ Hans Barkan, editor, Johannes Brahms and Theodor Billroth: Letters from a Musical Friendship (1957, Oklahoma University Press, ISBN 57-11190)
  4. ^ "Glasgow University jubilee" The Times (London). Friday, 14 June 1901. Issue 36481, p. 10.

External links [edit]