Journal of medical biography
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Biography Historical Article
Sir John Struthers (1823-1899), Professor of Anatomy in the University of Aberdeen (1863-1889), President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (1895-1897).
Between 1841 and 1845 John Struthers attended both the University of Edinburgh and some of the various Extra-mural Schools of Medicine associated with Surgeons' Hall. While a medical student he became a Member of the Hunterian Medical Society of Edinburgh and later was elected one of their Annual Presidents. He graduated with the MD Edin and obtained both the LRCS Edin and the FRCS Edin diplomas in 1845. ⋯ Later, he was elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1895 to 1897 and acted as its Vice-President from 1897 until his death in 1899. In 1898, Queen Victoria knighted him. His youngest son, John William Struthers, was the only one of his clinically qualified sons to survive him and subsequently was elected President of the Edinburgh College of Surgeons from 1941 to 1943.
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Biography Historical Article
Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (1810-1881) and Bernhard von Langenbeck (1810-1887): similarities on the anniversary of their 200th birthdays.
The year 2010 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of two great surgeons, the German Bernard von Langebeck and the Russian Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov. The anniversary was celebrated throughout the world and in Russia where the year 2010 was declared 'The Year of Pirogov'. However, in England the work of these men is not well known and is little appreciated. ⋯ Despite the contrasts, the similarities between their lives are striking. This paper explores the parallels between their lives and their contributions to the field of surgery. The work of both men prepared the ground for the work of Joseph Lister (1827-1912) in Glasgow (1867) and the development of antiseptic techniques.
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Biography Historical Article
The eponymous Dr James Marion Sims MD, LLD (1813-1883).
Dr James Marion Sims was born in 1813 in Lancaster County, South Carolina. It was while pioneering numerous surgical procedures in Alabama that in 1849 he achieved the outstanding landmark in medical history of successfully, and consistently, repairing vesicovaginal fistulae. ⋯ Sims was controversial, with flamboyant descriptions of self-confident success, yet they were tempered with sober reflection of failure and loss. Today we remain with the Sims speculum and Sims position, eponymous tributes to his accomplishments as the 'Father of Gynaecology'.