1560-1634

German Surgeon

Fabricius Hildanus was the "Father of German Surgery." He was the first to use magnets to extract iron slivers from the eye, the first to operate successfully for gallstones, and among the first to use tourniquets and ligatures to control bleeding. He improved amputation techniques and introduced many new surgical instruments.

Born Wilhelm Drees in Hilden, near Düsseldorf, Germany, on June 25, 1560, he is known variously as Wilhelm Fabry von Hilden, Wilhelm Fabricius von Hilden, Guilhelmus (or Guilielmus) Fabricius Hildanus, Wilhelm Fabricius Hildanus, or sometimes just as Fabricius Hildanus. He is not to be confused with the other great "Fabricius" of medicine, Italian anatomist Girolamo Fabrizio, known as Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente (1537-1619).

Although orphaned at a young age, Fabricius Hildanus received an excellent humanistic classical education, and became fluent in Latin. He was apprenticed to several barber-surgeons and military surgeons...