Camillus Nyrop (18 February 1811 - 24 December 1883) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

instrumentmaker and bandagist. He was the founder of Camillus Nyrops Etablissement, Denmark's first manufacturer of surgical instruments and artificial lims.

Early life and education

Nyrop was born on 18 February 1811 in Riserup on

Falster Falster () is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010.

, the son of provost Christopher Ntrop (1752-1831) and his second wife Cathrine Elisabeth Magdalene Heilmann (1765-1842). He was an apprentice in court turner ] Sværtegade 3, J. G. Schwartz's workshop in 1816–22. He had already at this point started to take an interest in surgical instruments. In 1833 he was articled to J. H. Hüttemeier to improve his knowledge of metalwork while at the same time studying under

Hans Christian Ørsted Hans Christian Ørsted ( , ; often rendered Oersted in English; 14 August 17779 March 1851) was a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, which was the first connection found between electricity ...

at the College of Advanced Technology. After that he went abroad to further his study of surgical instruments since such the most of these had until then all been imported. He initially went to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

before arriving in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1836 where he became an apprentice to

Joseph-Frédéric-Benoît Charrière Joseph-Frédéric-Benoît Charrière (March 19, 1803 – April 28, 1876) was a Swiss-born French manufacturer of surgical instruments. Charrière was born in Cerniat, in the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. He moved to Paris at age 13, and was a ...

and collaborated with leading French surgeons.

Career

Back in Copenhagen in 1838, he immediately started his own production of surgical instruments. His qualifications as an instrument maker and bandagist was soon noticed by the city's medical doctors and surgeons. He was in 1841 granted status of official instrumentmaker to the

Royal Danish Academy of Surgery The Royal Danish Academy of Surgery (Danish: Det Kongelige Kirurgiske Akademi), or Academia Chirurgorum Regia, was an educational institution which existed from 1785 until 1842 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Its former building at Bredgade now houses Med ...

, and in 1843, after the academy had been merged with the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

's Department of Medicine, he was granted status of university instrument maker. He later went abroad on several occasions, both to update his knowledge of surgical instruments and to become familiar with new areas of the metal industry. In 1846–50, he operated a tool factory in a partnership with Theodor Marstrand. Nyrop was aboard member of Industriforeningen from 1843. During the

First Schleswig War The First Schleswig War (german: Schleswig-Holsteinischer Krieg) was a military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig-Holstein Question, contesting the issue of who should control the Duchies of Schleswig, ...

, 1848–49, he devoted himself to the development of better artificial lims for the many injured soldiers who returned from the war. Several of his inventions wom him international acclaim. Towards the end of his career he increasingly focused on simplifying his surgical

armamentarium Armamentarium may refer to *Medical equipment *the Latin term for an arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owne ...

. Nyrop published '' Bandager og Instrumenter I-III'' in 1864–77.

Location

The company was based at

Købmagergade Købmagergade is a pedestrian shopping street in the Old Town of Copenhagen, Denmark. It connects Amagertorv on Strøget to Nørreport station, although the last section, north of Kultorvet, is part of Frederiksborggade, which continues on the ...

43. The building is from 1880 and was designed bhy

Ludvig Fenger Ludvig Peter Fenger (7 July 1833 – 9 March 1905) was a Danish architect. He was a proponent of the Historicist style, and from 1886 to 1904 he held the title of City Architect in Copenhagen. Among his works are several churches, the Centra ...

. The building around the corner at Løvstræde 4 was also built for the company. It was designed by

Martin Nyrop Martin Nyrop (11 November 1849 18 May 1921) was a Danish architect. Early life and education Nyrop was born on 11 November 1849 at Holmsland, Ringkøbing, the son of parish priest Christopher Nyrop (1805–1879) and Helene Ahlmann (1807–1874). ...

Personal life and legacy

Nyrop married Karen Christine (Kamma) Andersen (5 March 1822 - 10 December 1893), a daughter of manager of Toldbod Vinhus Hans Andersen (1792-1865) and Juliane Marie Berggreen (c. 1780-1841), on 6 July 1839 in the Garrison Church in Copenhagen. Nyrop was awarded the Medal of Merit in 1850 and amade a titular professor in 1860. He died on 24 December 1883 and is buried at the Garrison Cemetery in Copenhagen. His company, Camillus Nyrops Etablissement, was continued by two of his sons, Johan Ernst Nyrop (1850–1931) and Hans Louis Nyrop (1861-1931). It was converted into a limited company (''

aktieselskab ''Aktieselskab'' (; Abbreviation, abbr.: A/S, or a/s, Unicode ; literally meaning: "stock company") is the Denmark, Danish name for a stock-based corporation. An ''aktieselskab'' may be either publicly traded or private. Liability The sharehold ...

'') in 1924 and merged with Hjalmar Maag A/S. Two of his other sons were the industrial historian Camillus Nyrop (1843-1918) and the architect Kristoffer Nyrop.

References

External links

Architectural renderings
for adaption of

43 for Nyrop (1873)
Furniture
by

Martin Borch Martin Borch (1 March 1852 – 8 February 1937) was a Danish architect. Biography Borch was born at Skerngaard near Skjern, Denmark. He was the son of Frederik Borch (1807–1868) and Johanne Frederikke Borch née Frausing (1809–1886). He a ...

in the

Danish National Art Library The Danish National Art Library is the national research library for architecture, art history, visual arts and museology in Denmark. It was founded in 1754 as part of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and has been located at Charlottenborg' ...