Gustav Simon (30 May 1824 in Darmstadt – 21 August 1876 in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

) was a German surgeon. In 1848 he earned his medical doctorate from the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von ...

, and from 1848 to 1861 served as a military physician with a Hessian troop outfit. During this time he also worked at a small hospital in Darmstadt that he co-founded. In 1861 at the request of Carl Friedrich Strempel (1800-1872), he was appointed professor at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...

and director of the surgical clinic. In 1867 he succeeded Karl Otto Weber (1827-1867) at the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

. During the Franco-Prussian War he served as a physician in reserve hospitals. Simon was a member of the Corps Starkenburgia Giessen (1843) and Saxo-Borussia Heidelberg (1845). Simon specialized in the fields of gynecology,

orthopedics Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

and military surgery, and published a book involving his early experiences with gunshot wounds. In 1851-52 while in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

, he had the chance to observe Antoine Joseph Jobert de Lamballe’s operative treatment of vesicovaginal fistulae (VVF). Impressed by Jobert's success rate with VVF, Simon developed his own surgical technique for VVF when he returned to Darmstadt. Simon demonstrated that the excretion process remains functional in animals with one healthy

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...

, and on 2 August 1869 performed the first planned

nephrectomy A nephrectomy is the surgical removal of a kidney, performed to treat a number of kidney diseases including kidney cancer. It is also done to remove a normal healthy kidney from a living or deceased donor, which is part of a kidney transplant pr ...

on a human, only eight years after the first nephrectomy by Erastus Bradley Wolcott. In 1872 with

Bernhard von Langenbeck Bernhard Rudolf Konrad von Langenbeck (9 November 181029 September 1887) was a German surgeon known as the developer of Langenbeck's amputation and founder of ''Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery''. Life He was born at Padingbüttel, and rece ...

(1810-1887) and

Richard von Volkmann Richard von Volkmann (17 August 1830 – 28 November 1889) was a prominent German surgeon and author of poetry and fiction. Some of his works were illustrated by his son, Hans, a well known artist. Biography He was born in Leipzig on 17 August ...

(1830-1889), he founded the German Society of Surgery.

Literary works

* 1851, "''Über Schußwunden''" (About gunshot wounds),

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

. * 1854, "''Über Heilung der Blasenscheidenfisteln''" (Concerning healing of vesicovaginal fistulae), Gießen. * 1857, "''Die Exstirpation der Milz''" (The extirpation of the

spleen The spleen is an organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The word spleen comes .

, Gießen. * 1862, "''Über die Operation der Blasenscheidenfisteln''" (About the operation for vesicovaginal fistulae),

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...

. * 1868, "''Mitteilungen aus der chirurgischen Klinik zu Rostock''" (Reports from the surgical hospital at Rostock), Prag. * 1871-76 "''Chirurgie der Nieren''" (Surgery of the kidneys); (2 volumes), Stuttgart.

References

''Gustav Simon''
@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

1824 births 1876 deaths Physicians from Darmstadt German surgeons People from the Grand Duchy of Hesse University of Giessen alumni Heidelberg University alumni Heidelberg University faculty University of Rostock faculty {{Germany-med-bio-stub