1875-1951

German Surgeon

Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch was one of the most outstanding surgeons of the first half of the twentieth century. His inventiveness and technical brilliance solved a problem that had stumped physicians for centuries—how to open the chest without losing respiratory function. In addition to this breakthrough, Sauerbruch introduced many advances in surgery of the lung and was the first to devise an artificial hand worked by the muscles of the amputated arm.

Born in Barmen, Germany, on July 3, 1875, Sauerbruch was raised in humble circumstances by his mother and grandfather after his father's death in 1877. His family sacrificed to send him to medical school at Marburg, Jena, and Leipzig, where he qualified in 1902. His highly original essay on cerebral pressure attracted the attention of the renowned surgeon Johann von Mikulicz-Radecki (1850-1905), who invited Sauerbruch to his surgical clinic at the University of...