Jan Mikulicz-Radecki#MD

{{Short description|Polish surgeon}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Jan Mikulicz-Radecki

| image = Jan_Mikulicz-Radecki_(c._1878).jpg

| image_size = 150px

| caption = Jan Mikulicz-Radecki, 1878

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1850|05|16|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Chernivtsi, Bukovina, Austrian Empire

| death_date = {{death-date and age|4 June 1905|16 May 1850}}

| death_place = Breslau, German Empire

| residence =

| citizenship =

| nationality = German, Polish

| ethnicity =

| field = surgeon

| work_institutions = Kraków
Königsberg
Breslau

| alma_mater = University of Vienna

| doctoral_advisor = Theodor Billroth

| doctoral_students =

| known_for =

| author_abbrev_bot =

| author_abbrev_zoo =

| prizes =

| religion =

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}}

Image:Mikulicz-Radecki-grób1.JPG

Jan Mikulicz-Radecki ({{langx|de|Johann Freiherr von Mikulicz-Radecki}}) was a German-Polish-Austrian surgeon who worked mainly in the German Empire. He was born on 16 May 1850 in Czerniowce in the Austrian Empire (present-day Chernivtsi in Ukraine) and died on 4 June 1905 in Breslau, German Empire (present-day Wrocław in Poland). He was professor in Kraków, Breslau, and Königsberg. He was the inventor of new operating techniques and tools, and is one of the pioneers of antiseptics and aseptic techniques. In Poland he is regarded as one of the founders of the Kraków school of surgery.

Life

His parental ancestors of the Mikulicz family were of Polish szlachta origin and had been granted the Gozdawa coat of arms by King John III Sobieski after the 1683 Battle of Vienna. His mother Emilie Freiin von Damnitz was of Austrian descent. Mikulicz-Radecki spoke his native German and also Polish, Russian and English fluently.{{cite web | url=https://www.aerzteblatt.de/archiv/29749/Mikulicz-Radecki-Richtigstellung | title=Mikulicz-Radecki: Richtigstellung | date=7 December 2001 }} When asked his nationality he simply answered "surgeon".Wojciech Kustrzycki: International symposium for cardiothoracic surgery 4–6 November 2004 in Wroclaw, [http://www.dgch.de/downloads/dgch/mitteilungen/DGCH-Gesamt-2-05.pdf Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie - Mitteilungen 2/2005: 154-8 (PDF)] (German) 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 (Kaliningrad) and from 1890 at the University of Breslau.{{cite book | title=Dzieje nauki polskiej | last= Iłowiecki | first=Maciej | year=1981 | publisher=Wydawnictwo Interpress | location=Warszawa |page= 196 | isbn=83-223-1876-6}}

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 surgical mask and was the first to use medical gloves during surgery.

Mikulicz-Radecki was a talented amateur pianist and a friend of Johannes Brahms.Hans Barkan, editor, Johannes Brahms and Theodor Billroth: Letters from a Musical Friendship (1957, Oklahoma University Press, {{LCCN|57011190}})

He received an honorary doctorate (LL.D) from the University of Glasgow in June 1901.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-glasgow-university-jubilee/131294008/ |date=14 June 1901 |title=Glasgow University Jubilee |page=10 |newspaper=The Times |publication-place=London |issue=36481 |access-date=2024-01-05 |via=Newspapers.com}}

The German ornithologist Maria Koepcke (born Maria Emilie Anna von Mikulicz-Radecki) and her daughter the German mammalogist Juliane Koepcke, are his descendants.

Associated eponyms

See also

References

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