1829-1894

Austrian surgeon regarded as the founder of modern abdominal surgery. Billroth received his degree from Berlin in 1852 and held teaching positions at Zurich and Vienna, where he made major contributions to surgical practice. Modern surgery was just beginning, and Billroth was especially interested in wound fever, which he believed was caused by organisms. He insisted on regular temperature taking and was one of the first to introduce antisepsis in continental Europe. In 1881 he made surgical history by removing part of a cancerous stomach.