1683-1758

German surgeon who improved the tourniquet and invented a spinal brace. His treatise on general surgery first appeared in German in 1718, was translated into many languages, and went through many editions as the most popular surgical textbook of the eighteenth century. In Heister's time the French, especially the Parisians, dominated surgery, but he is usually regarded as the founder of modern German surgery and the equal of any of his contemporary surgeons in France.