Theodor Billroth - Physicians, Birthday and Childhood

Childhood And Early Life

Billroth was born on 26^th April 1829 in the kingdom of Prussia in a family of Swedish origin. He attended school in Greifswald and later, enrolled in the University of Greifswald for medicine. He was student to Wilhelm Baum and moved to the University of Gottingen along with his professor. Billroth completed his doctorate studies from University of Berlin and then he, along with his friends Rudolph Wagner and Georg Meissner, went to Trieste to study about the electric ray ‘Torpedo’. In 1852, after completing his doctorate studies, he started for an educational tour, visiting many medical schools in Prague, Vienna, London, Paris and Edinburgh.

Career 

MedicineBillroth had an amazing ability to carry out or even invent new procedures and this gained him the appellation of “surgeon of great initiatives”. He worked as a doctor at Charite in Berlin, from 1853-1860, where he was working under Carl Langenbuch as apprentice. He served as professor at the University of Zurich from 1860 to 1867 and also served as the director of the surgical hospital in Zurich. Because of his interest in military surgery, he volunteered to work in Mannheim and Weissenburg hospitals during the Franco-German War. He put in great efforts in improving the transportation facilities and treatment for the wounded people in war and gave his famous speech on War Budget in 1891, emphasizing the need of effective ambulance system.  In 1867, he was appointed by the University of Vienna as a professor of Surgery. He also practiced surgery at the second surgical clinic at the Vienna General Hospital. He penned many papers and books in medical domain and his book, “Die llgemeine chirurgische Pathologie und Therapie”, (General Surgical Pathology and Therapy) published in 1863 was translated into many languages. He was the first person to do esophagectomy (1871), laryngectomy (1873) and gastrectomy (1881). He achieved this after many ill-fated attempts and it is said that his first gastrectomy surgery was such a failure that the patient died post procedure and Billroth was almost stoned to death in the streets of Vienna. By 1881, Billroth successfully did an excision of a cancerous pylorus (the lower end of the stomach) which became a great sensation. This initiated the modern era of surgery in the field of allopathic medicine. Modified versions of his surgical removal methods remained in use for many years. He was specialized in plastic surgery as well, especially of the face. 

Music

Billroth also had an appetite for music which he followed along with practicing medicine. He was a talented violinist and pianist and was close friend to the famous Viennese composer Brahms. Brahms used to send his compositions to Billroth for opinion before sending them for publishing. Billroth was a regular participant in rehearsals of Brahms’s chamber works. They were also close to the famous Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick and the trio formed the core of musical conservatives. They thoroughly opposed the musical innovations of Franz Liszt and Richard Wanger and their conflicts are known as ‘War of the Romantics’. Billroth had also written an essay, “Wer ist musikalisch” (who is musical) but it got published only after his death. This essay discusses the different types of amusicalities like rhythm-deafness, tone deafness and harmony deafness. This is regarded as one of the first attempts to apply scientific method to music. However, Billroth could not complete this research.

Death

Billroth had a severe lung infection during the spring of 1887. He suffered from cardiac problems as well towards his last years. Billroth died on 6^th February 1894 in Abbazia, Austria-Hungary. He was buried in Vienna with "princely" honors. There is a memorial for him in the arcade square at the University of Vienna, which was unveiled on November 7, 1897.

Positions Held

• Doctor at Charite in Berlin
• Director of a surgical hospital in Zurich
• Professor of Surgery, University of Zürich
• Professor of Surgery, University of Vienna