Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Braun (1 January 1862 – 26 April 1934) was a German surgeon remembered for his work in the field of

anaesthesiology Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...

. He was a native of

Rawitsch Rawicz (; german: Rawitsch) is a town in west-central Poland with 21,398 inhabitants as of 2004. It is situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship (since 1999); previously it was in Leszno Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Rawicz C ...

, Province of Posen (today called Rawicz, Poland). Braun attended the

Kreuzschule The ''Kreuzschule'' (German for "School of the Cross") in Dresden (also known by its Latin name, ''schola crucis'') is the oldest surviving school in Dresden and one of the oldest in Germany. As early as 1300, a schoolmaster (''Cunradus puerorum re ...

and the ''Vitzhumsches Gymnasium'' in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, completing his Abitur in 1881. He studied medicine at the Universities of Strasbourg,

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (german: Universitäts- und Hansestadt Greifswald, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rosto ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, earning his doctorate in 1887. From 1891 to 1905 he worked at various hospitals in Leipzig, becoming an associate professor at the University of Leipzig in 1905. The following year he was appointed chief surgeon and medical director of the Royal Saxonian Hospital in

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ...

, a position he maintained until his retirement in 1923. Construction of the "Krankenstift Zwickau" in 1921 was based on his plans and recommendations. Braun made important contributions in the development of

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

and

regional anaesthesia Local anesthesia is any technique to induce the absence of sensation in a specific part of the body, generally for the aim of inducing local analgesia, that is, local insensitivity to pain, although other local senses may be affected as well. It ...

. In 1901 he devised an apparatus for mixed-gas anaesthesia, and in 1903 recommended the addition of

adrenaline Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands an ...

as a

vasoconstrictor Vasoconstriction is the narrowing of the blood vessels resulting from contraction of the muscular wall of the vessels, in particular the large arteries and small arterioles. The process is the opposite of vasodilation, the widening of blood vess ...

to local anaesthetics. In 1905 he introduced

procaine Procaine is a local anesthetic drug of the amino ester group. It is most commonly used in dental procedures to numb the area around a tooth and is also used to reduce the pain of intramuscular injection of penicillin. Owing to the ubiquity ...

into clinical medicine, an anaesthetic that had previously been synthesized by

Alfred Einhorn Alfred Einhorn (27 February 1856 – 21 March 1917) was a German chemist most notable for first synthesizing procaine in 1905 which he patented under the name Novocain. Until that time the primary anesthetic in use was cocaine, however its undesi ...

(1856-1917). Braun wrote Local Anesthesia, Its Scientific Basis and Practical Use.

Associated eponym

* "Braun's splint": A metal splint and frame attached to pulleys, used to support a fractured leg while a patient is bedridden.Dictionary of medicine
by Peter Hodgson Collin

References

External links

Researchgate
Heinrich Braun (1862-1934)--a pioneer in anesthesiology in Germany {{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Heinrich 1862 births 1934 deaths People from Rawicz German surgeons German anesthesiologists Academic staff of Leipzig University People from the Province of Posen People educated at the Kreuzschule