Ernst von Bergmann

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

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

Biography

Born in Riga, Livonia Governorate (now Latvia), in 1860 he earned his doctorate at the University of Dorpat. Afterwards, he was an assistant at the surgical clinic and habilitated for surgery under Georg von Adelmann (his future father-in-law) and Georg von Oettingen (1864). From 1871 to 1878 he was a professor of surgery at Dorpat. After spending a few years as a professor at Würzburg, he relocated to the University of Berlin as a successor to Bernhard von Langenbeck (1882). He served as a professor of surgery at Berlin 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.

Contributions

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 also used steam sterilized dressing material, demonstrating its superiority to chemical antisepsis.

He served as a medical officer in the Austro-Prussian War (1866), the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) and the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), gaining valuable experience in regards to the treatment of wounded soldiers. He was deeply interested in the etiology and pathogenesis of diseases associated with battle-related wounds. In his role as a medical officer, he expressed the need for a well-trained ancillary and nursing personnel and also for the implementation of a modified procedure for handling gunshot wounds, in particular, wounds involving the joints and cranium.

He was also a pioneer of hydrocolectomy (hydrocele operation), made contributions towards the development of the technique for appendectomy and is credited with performing the first successful operation for esophageal diverticulum.

He was the author of numerous medical and surgical works, including a classic treatise on head injuries, titled Die Lehre von den Kopfverletzungen (1880) and a book on brain surgery, titled Die Chirurgische Behandlung der Hirnkrankheiten (1888).

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 "Klinikum Ernst von Bergmann" in Potsdam and the "Ernst-von-Bergmann-Kaserne" in Munich are named in his honor.

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  Monument of Bergmann in Tartu (former Dorpat).
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See also

• List of Baltic German scientists

References

• Czymek, R; Düsel W (March 2007). "[On the centennial of Ernst von Bergmann's death]". Der Chirurg; Zeitschrift für alle Gebiete der operativen Medizen. 78 (3): 265–8, 270–2. doi:10.1007/s00104-006-1299-8. PMID 17287931.
• Blair, J S G (June 2006). "Ernst Von Bergmann". Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps. 152 (2): 108–9. 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. 125 (6): 552–60. PMID 10919251.
• Salcman, M (1996). "Ernst von Bergmann performs a brain operation by Franz Skarbina". Neurosurgery. 38 (6): 1254–5. doi:10.1227/00006123-199606000-00046. PMID 8727161.
• Luther, B; Wirth I (1986). "[The development of surgery by Ernst von Bergmann]". Zentralblatt für Chirurgie. 111 (22): 1389–97. PMID 3548162.