Emil Theodor Kocher

Born in Bern. He studied in Zurich, Berlin, London and Vienna, obtaining his doctorate in Bern in 1865. From 1872 he succeeded Georg Albert Lucke[?] as Ordinary Professor of Surgery and Director of the University[?] Surgical Clinic at Berne. He published works on a number of subjects other than the thyroid gland including haemostasis, antiseptic treatments, surgical infectious diseases, on gunshot wounds, acute osteomyelitis[?], the theory of strangulated hernia, and abdominal surgery. His new ideas on the thyroid gland were initially controversial but his successful treatment of goitre with a steadily decreasing mortality rate soon won him recognition. The prize money for the Nobel helped establish the Kocher Institut in Berne.

A number of instruments and surgical techniques are named after him as well as the Kocher-Debre-Semelaigne syndrome.

External Links

• http://crishunt.8bit.co.uk/kocher_theodor