Education
He studied medicine in Königsberg, Göttingen and Berlin, receiving his doctorate in 1822. In Paris he attended lectures and clinics by Guillaume Dupuytren (1777–1835), Dominique Jean Larrey (1766–1842) and Jean Cruveilhier (1791–1874).
He studied medicine in Königsberg, Göttingen and Berlin, receiving his doctorate in 1822. In Paris he attended lectures and clinics by Guillaume Dupuytren (1777–1835), Dominique Jean Larrey (1766–1842) and Jean Cruveilhier (1791–1874).
At the University of Göttingen, he was influenced by Konrad Martin Langenbeck (1776–1855), Karl Gustav Himly (1772–1837) and Friedrich Benjamin Osiander (1759–1822). After graduation, he spent a year as a surgical assistant to Karl Ferdinand von Graefe (1787–1850) in Berlin, followed by several years of study in Austria, Italy, France and the British Isles (London, Edinburgh, Dublin). During his years of travel, he pursued artistic interests in addition to furthering his studies in medicine.
Afterwards he relocated to Danzig as chief surgeon at the municipal hospital.
In Danzig he greatly distinguished himself during the cholera epidemic of 1831. In 1841 he undertook a research trip to Paris, where he studied lithotripsy with Jean Civiale (1792–1867) and Jean-Jacques-Joseph Leroy d"Etiolles (1798–1860), afterwards becoming a professor of surgery at the University of Greifswald (1842).
Later in his career he was appointed professor of surgery at the University of Göttingen. Baum was an important influence to the career of Theodor Billroth (1829–1894).
Although considered a good teacher, he was not known for his writings.
He was one of the first surgeons in Germany to perform tracheotomies for treatment of croup (1848 at Greifswald, five cases). He is also credited for providing an early mention of human pulmonary aspergillosis.
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.