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Emil Theodor Kocher Edit Profile

medical researcher physician Surgeon

Emil Theodor Kocher was a Swiss physician and medical researcher who received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid. Among his many accomplishments are the introduction and promotion of aseptic surgery and scientific methods in surgery, specifically reducing the mortality of thyroidectomies below 1% in his operations.

Background

Kocher was born on August 25, 1841 in Bern, Switzerland. His father was Jakob Alexander Kocher, a railway engineer, who moved in 1845 to Burgdorf, Switzerland because of his job as regional engineer of Emmental (Bezirksingenieur). He was named chief engineer for street and water in the canton of Bern at an age of only 34 years and he moved with his family to the capital, the city of Bern. In 1858 he left the states service and managed several engineering projects around Bern. Theodor Kocher's mother was Maria Kocher (née Wermuth), living from 1820 to 1900. She was a very religious woman and part of the Moravian Church; together with Jakob Alexander, she raised a family of five sons and one daughter (Theodor Kocher was the second son).

Education

Kocher studied medicine at the University of Bern and surgery in Berlin, London, and Paris.

Career

Returning to his native city, Kocher began, in 1866, his connection with the University of Bern, where he remained the rest of his life. He was appointed professor of surgery and director of the surgical clinic there in 1872. Kocher is known particularly for his work on the physiology, pathology, and surgery of the thyroid gland. He was the first to describe the symptoms of toxic goiter (1883) and the first to operate successfully for goiter. He specialized in this type of operation and became known for his good results. His other work included the treatment of exophthalmic goiter, the transplanting of the thyroid gland, and studies on cancer of the thyroid, on the curability of cancer of the stomach, and on the prevention of cretinism. He is also noted for his work on shoulder dislocations, hernia, and osteomyelitis. For his contributions on the thyroid gland he was awarded the 1909 Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine. His writings include Die antiseptische Wundbehandlung (1881), Vorlesungen überuber chirurgische Infektionskrankheiten (with Tavel, 1895), Encyclopädie der Chirurgie (with Quervain, 1901), and his Chirurgische Operationslehre (1894), available in the English translation as Textbook of Operative Surgery (2 vols. , revised, 1911), considered a classic in its field. Kocher died at Bern, July 27, 1917.

Achievements

  • Kocher was the first Swiss citizen and the first surgeon to ever receive a Nobel prize. He was considered a pioneer and leader in the field of surgery in his time.

Works

Religion

Like his mother, Kocher was a deeply religious man and also part of the Moravian Church. This was an uncommon trait that not many colleagues and co-workers shared and until his death, Kocher attributed all his successes and failures to God. He thought that the rise of materialism (especially in science) was a great evil, and he attributed the outbreak of the First World War.

Membership

Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (1900), President of the Bernese and Swiss physician societies, President of the Swiss society for surgery, President of the German society for surgery (1902), Honorary member of the German society for surgery (1902), Chairman of the first international surgery conference in Brussels (1905)

Connections

In 1869, Kocher married Marie Witschi-Courant. She was the daughter of Johannes Witschi who was a merchant and she had three sons together with Kocher. The Kochers first lived at the Marktgasse in Bern and moved in 1875 to a bigger house in the Villette. Kocher was involved in the education of his three sons and played tennis with them and went horseback riding with them. The eldest son Albert (1872-1941) would follow him to the surgical clinic in Bern and become Assistant Professor of Surgery.

Father:
Jakob Alexander Kocher

Mother:
Maria Wermuth

Spouse:
Marie Witschi-Courant

grandmother:
Barbara Sutter

Grandfather:
Samuel Kocher

Son:
Albert Kocher

Friend:
Marc Dufour