Paul Leopold Friedrich (26 January 1864 – 15 January 1916) was a German

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

and

bacteriologist A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology -- a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically Pathogenic bacteria, pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learnin ...

born in the town of

Roda Roda may refer to: Places *Stadtroda (called Roda until 1925), a town in Thuringia, Germany *Roda, Greece, a village in Corfu, Greece * Roda, Punjab, a town and Union Council of Punjab, Pakistan *Roda, Portugal, a village in Viseu district, Portu ...

Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Altenburg (german: Sachsen-Altenburg, links=no) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin in present-day Thuringia. It was one of the smallest of the German states with an area of 1323 square kilometer ...

. In 1888 he received his doctorate at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, and as a young assistant worked under

Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( , ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera (though the Vibrio ...

(1843–1910) at the Reich Health Office in

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 ...

. From 1894 he worked as a

privat-docent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

of surgery in Leipzig, where in 1896 he became an associate professor. Later he served as a professor at the Universities of

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 Rostoc ...

(from 1903),

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

(from 1907) and

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

(from 1911). At

he succeeded

August Bier August Karl Gustav Bier (24 November 1861 – 12 March 1949) was a German surgeon. He was the first to perform spinal anesthesia and intravenous regional anesthesia. Early medical career Bier began his medical education at the Charité – Uni ...

(1861–1949) as director of the Surgical University Hospital. Two of Friedrich's well-known assistants were

Ferdinand Sauerbruch Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch (; 3 July 1875 – 2 July 1951) was a Nazi Germany, German surgery, surgeon. His major work was on the use of negative-pressure chambers for surgery. Biography Sauerbruch was born in Barmen (now a district of Wu ...

(1875–1951) and

Martin Kirschner Martin Kirschner (28 October 1879 – 30 August 1942) was a German surgeon. Kirschner was born in Breslau, the son of Margarethe Kalbeck (sister of Max Kalbeck) and Judge Martin Kirschner (1842–1912), who later served as city councillor ( ...

(1879–1942). Friedrich was skilled in many aspects of

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

, including pioneer work in the field of

thoracic surgery Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of organs inside the thoracic cavity — generally treatment of conditions of the heart (heart disease), lungs (lung disease), and other pleural or mediastinal struc ...

(lungs). He is remembered for his studies of

wound treatment The history of wound care spans from prehistory to modern medicine. Wounds naturally Wound healing, heal by themselves, but hunter-gatherers would have noticed several factors and certain herbalism, herbal remedies would speed up or assist the proc ...

and his efforts to reduce

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

l infections. Through experimentation, he demonstrated the importance of

debridement Debridement is the medical removal of dead, damaged, or infected tissue to improve the healing potential of the remaining healthy tissue. Removal may be surgical, mechanical, chemical, autolytic (self-digestion), and by maggot therapy. In p ...

(removal of infected tissue) within a six-hour time limit. He also did extensive work involving diseases that included

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part or ...

and

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. He is credited for introducing the practice of using seamless

rubber gloves A rubber glove is a glove made out of natural rubber or Synthetic rubber. The term ‘rubber’ refers to durable, waterproof and elastic material made from natural or synthetic latex. Rubber gloves can be unsupported (rubber only) or supported ( ...

during surgery.Zentralblatt für Chirurgie 1976 Issue 9
(translated biography, including numerous details regarding Friedrich's contributions to medicine)

References

* Parts of this article are based on a translation of an article from the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

External links

Google Books
Fractures: a history and iconography of their treatment by Leonard F. Peltier.
Archiv für klinische Chirurgie
at Archiv.org 1864 births 1916 deaths Academic staff of the University of Greifswald Academic staff of the University of Marburg Academic staff of the University of Königsberg People from Saxe-Altenburg German surgeons German bacteriologists {{Germany-med-bio-stub