Ernst von Bergmann

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Ernst von Bergmann

|image = Ernst von Bergmann 1.jpg

|image_size =

|caption = von Bergmann {{circa}} 1890

|birth_name = Ernst Gustav Benjamin von Bergmann

|birth_date = {{birth-date|16 December 1836}}

|birth_place = Riga, Livonia Governorate, Russian Empire

|death_date = {{death-date and age|25 March 1907|16 December 1836}}

|death_place = Wiesbaden, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire

|residence =

|citizenship =

|nationality = Baltic German

|ethnicity =

|field = Surgeon

|work_institutions = University of Berlin

|alma_mater = Imperial University of Dorpat

|doctoral_advisor =

|doctoral_students =

|known_for = Sterilisation of surgical instruments and Hydrocolectomy

}}

Ernst Gustav Benjamin von Bergmann (16 December 1836 – 25 March 1907) was a Baltic German surgeon. He was the first physician to introduce heat sterilisation of surgical instruments and is known as a pioneer of aseptic surgery.

Early life and education

Born in Riga, Livonia Governorate (now Latvia), in 1860 he earned his doctorate at the Imperial University of Dorpat. He then worked as an assistant at the surgical clinic, and trained for surgery under Georg von Adelmann (his future father-in-law), and Georg von Oettingen. He received his certification in 1864.

Career

From 1871 to 1878 he was a professor of surgery at Dorpat. In 1878 he became a professor at Würzburg; in 1882 he relocated to the University of Berlin as a successor to Bernhard von Langenbeck.[http://www.zeno.org/Pagel-1901/A/Bergmann,+Ernst Zeno,org] Pagel: Biographical Dictionary outstanding physicians of the nineteenth century. Berlin, Vienna 1901, Sp. 141-144. von Bergmann continued 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).[http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz3897.html Bergmann, Ernst Gustav Benjamin von] @ NDB/ADB Deutsche Biographie

Personal life and death

Bergmann died in Wiesbaden.

His son, Gustav von Bergmann (1878–1955) was a noted doctor of internal medicine.

Contributions

Bergmann was the first physician to introduce heat sterilization of surgical instruments, thus greatly reducing the number of infections in surgery.{{Cite web|url=http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/503947|title=History of Infection Control and its Contributions to the|website=Medscape}} He also used steam sterilized dressing material, demonstrating its superiority to chemical antisepsis. He was also an early adopter of the "white coat".Hardy, Susan and Corones, Anthony, "Dressed to Heal: The Changing Semiotics of Surgical Dress", Fashion Theory, (2015), pp. 1-23. [https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2015.1077653 doi=10.1080/1362704X.2015.1077653]

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 treating wounds. He was deeply interested in the etiology and pathogenesis of diseases associated with battle-related wounds. 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.{{cite journal | pmid = 10919251 | volume=125 | issue=6 | title=[Life and work of the surgeon Ernst von Bergmann (1836-1907), long-term editor of the "Zentralblatt für Chirurgie"] | year=2000 | author=Zimmermann M | journal=Zentralbl Chir | pages=552–60}}

Bergmann pioneered the hydrocelectomy (hydrocele operation), contributed to improved appendectomy procedures, and performed the first successful esophageal diverticulum operation.

Bergmann wrote numerous medical and surgical works, including a classic treatise on head injuries, Die Lehre von den Kopfverletzungen (1880), and a book on brain surgery, Die Chirurgische Behandlung der Hirnkrankheiten (1888). In 1904, with Martin Kirchner and Robert Kutner, he co-founded the Zeitschrift für ärztliche Fortbildung ("Journal of Medical Education").[http://journals.elsevier.de/inhalt.php?/lan~eng/site~journalg/journal~3/name~100_9_10/article~2310503.html "Zeitschrift für ärztliche Fortbildung und Qualität im Gesundheitswesen"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026163239/http://journals.elsevier.de/inhalt.php?%2Flan~eng%2Fsite~journalg%2Fjournal~3%2Fname~100_9_10%2Farticle~2310503.html |date=2016-10-26 }} Elsevier-Germany Online Journals With Friedrich von Bramann and English physician Morell Mackenzie (1837–1892), he attended to Frederick III (1831–1888), when the emperor was dying of laryngeal cancer.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

The Ernst von Bergmann Clinic in Potsdam,{{Cite web|url=http://poliklinikevb.de/de.html|title=EvB Poliklinik - Poliklinik - Startseite|website=poliklinikevb.de}} the Ernst-von-Bergmann-Kaserne in Munich, and the Ernst von Bergmann Plaque of the German Medical Association, are named in his honor.

File:Ernst von Bergmann bei der Beinamputation.jpg|Bergmann and his assistants in "white coats" (c. 1897)

File:Ernst Bergmann1 2010-04-09.JPG|Monument of Bergmann in Tartu (former Dorpat)

File:Ernst Bergmann3 2010-04-09.JPG|Monument of Bergmann (plaque)

Footnotes

References

{{cite journal|last=Blair|first=J S G|date=June 2006|title=Ernst Von Bergmann|journal=Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps|volume=152|issue=2|pages=108–9|pmid=17175776|doi=10.1136/jramc-152-02-09|s2cid=71349610}}
{{cite journal|last=Czymek|first=R|author2=Düsel W|date=March 2007|title=On the centennial of Ernst von Bergmann's death|journal=Der Chirurg; Zeitschrift für Alle Gebiete der Operativen Medizen|volume=78|issue=3|pages=265–272|pmid=17287931|doi=10.1007/s00104-006-1299-8|s2cid=41405442}}
{{cite journal|last=Luther|first=B|author2=Wirth I|year=1986|title=The development of surgery by Ernst von Bergmann|journal=Zentralblatt für Chirurgie|volume=111|issue=22|pages=1389–97|pmid=3548162}}
{{cite journal|last=Salcman|first=M|date=1996|title=Ernst von Bergmann performs a brain operation - by Franz Skarbina|journal=Neurosurgery|volume=38|issue=6|pages=1254–5|pmid=8727161|doi=10.1227/00006123-199606000-00046|title-link=Franz Skarbina}}
{{cite journal|last=Zimmermann|first=M|year=2000|title=Life and work of the surgeon Ernst von Bergmann (1836–1907), long-term editor of the "Zentralblatt für Chirurgie"|journal=Zentralblatt für Chirurgie|volume=125|issue=6|pages=552–60|pmid=10919251}}