Frederik (Friderich) Christian Winsløw (12 March 1752 - 24 June 1811) 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 ance ...

surgeon. He was chief surgeon at Frederick's Hospital from 1781 to 1795, professor of anatomy and surgery at 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 Medi ...

from its foundation in 1785 and was appointed as court surgeon in 1802. He died unmarried and granted most of his estate to the hospital as well as to the associated

Fødselsstiftelsen Fødselsstiftelsen, also referred to as Fødsels- og Plejestiftelsen (antiquated spelling: Fødsels- og Pleiestiftelsen; Literal translation: Maternity and Caring Institution), was a Danish maternity institution in Amaliegade in Copenhagen, Denma ...

Early life and career

Winsløw was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, the son of medal engraver

Peter Christian Winsløw Peter Christian Winsløw (1708 – c. 1756), also referred to as Peder Christensen Winsløw, was a Danish medal engraver. He was part of the Winsløw family. Early life and education Winsløw was born in Bårse, the son of parish priest Christia ...

and Anna Dorothea Siewers. In 1756, his father brought him along when he left the country to pursuit a new life in Russia but left him in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

from where he was returned to his mother in Copenhagen. He served in the household of a maternal uncle from an early age. The uncle, a barber from

Christianshavn Christianshavn (literally, "ingChristian's Harbour") is a neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. Part of the Indre By District, it is located on several artificial islands between the islands of Zealand and Amager and separated from the rest of th ...

, taught him the trade of surgery. At the age of 14 he also began to receive training at Grederick's Hospital where chief surgeon Alexander Kølpin "accustomed his ear, heart and hand to the surgical profession". He also began to follow Heinrich Callisen's lectures at the

Theatrum Anatomico-chirurgicum Theatrum Anatomico-chirurgicum was an anatomical theatre which existed from 1736 until 1785 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built as a replacement for Domus Anatomica which had been destroyed in the Copenhagen Fire of 1728 and was itself succeeded ...

and was trained in dissection by Georg Heuermann. He also followed the lectures of V. Hennings and Johan Clemens Tode. In 1769 the anatomist and botanist

Christen Friis Rottbøll Christen Friis Rottbøll (3 March 1727, at Hørbygård, Denmark – 15 June 1797, in Copenhagen) was a Danish physician and botanist: He was a pupil of Carolus Linnaeus. Early life Rottbøll was born on the Hørbygaard estate at Holbæk, the so ...

made the hard-working and ambitious seventeen-year-old student his prosector and later that same year he was appointed to army company surgeon. Callisen now saw to his further education at the Theatrum Anatomico-chirurgicum and after his return to Denmark from a journey abroad in 1771 secured him a position as assistant surgeon at the søkvæsthuset. That same year he also enrolled at 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 ...

where he, in 1773, became prosector and began to lecture. In 1774-77, Winsløw served as surgeon at Frederick's Hospital, first under Kølpin and then under J. E. Behrens.

Travels

In 1777, assisted by royal physician J. C. J. v. Berger, who was a member of the hospital's board of directors, Winsløw obtained a royal travel stipend. He initially went to Paris where the memory of his relative, the anatomist Jacob B. Winslow, was still alive and opened all doors. He mainly studied under Pierre-Joseph Desault but also under

Raphaël Bienvenu Sabatier Raphaël Bienvenu Sabatier (11 October 1732 – 19 July 1811) was a French anatomist and surgeon born in Paris. He studied medicine in Paris, and in 1756 became a professor at the Collège Royal de Chirurgie. Shortly afterwards, he became chief s ...

and

Jean-Louis Baudelocque Jean-Louis Baudelocque (30 November 1745 – 2 May 1810) was a French obstetrician who studied and practiced medicine in Paris. He was born in Heilly, in the French region of Picardy. Baudelocque is known for making obstetrics a scientific discip ...

. From Paris he continued to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

where he mainly studied under

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and John Hunter.

Chief surgeon and professor

Winsløw returned to Denmark in 1780 and succeeded Behrens as head surgeon at Frederick's Hospital the following year. He represented the surgeons in the gfeud against the physicians with Callisen as his direct opponent. He was appointed to professor of anatomy and surgery when the

was founded in the 1785. He also operated a lucrative private practice. He eas succeeded by H. C. F. Schumacher in 1795 but remained active at the

. He was the first in the country to hold weekly clinical-surgical lectures.

Work

Winsløw's few written works from his early career are insignificant. His observations during the dissection of cats and dog of respiratory movements of fetuses ''intra ovum'' enabled P. Scheels to write his thesis on this subject. Inspired by his time in London, he was active in the debate on vaccinations. In 1801 he made the first successful Cowpox vaccinations in the country, using lymph acquired directly from Edward Jenner. He was later an active member of the Vaccination Commission. During the siege and bombardment of Copenhagen, Winsløw was responsible for organizing the lazarets and personally acted as head surgeon at one of them. He was appointed as court surgeon in 1801. He became a member of the new sundhedskollegium as well as of the Royal Medical Society in 1803.

Personal life

Winsløw never married. His ability to work was inhibited by increasing problems with dropsy during the lat years of his life which ultimately caused his death. He left most of his estate to Frederick's Hospital and

. One of the apartments in Gammel kloster was named F. C.Winsløw's Apartment after him.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winslow, Frederik Christian Danish surgeons Danish philanthropists 1752 births 1811 deaths