Alexander Carl Otto Westphal belongs to the medical record as a figure whose work changed what could be treated.
The record lists Alexander Carl Otto Westphal as German neurologist (1863–1941).
Alexander Carl Otto Westphal was born at Berlin in 1863. His recorded nationality is German Reich. He trained at Heidelberg University.
Anaesthesia, antisepsis and germ theory arrived within fifty years and made modern surgery possible for the first time.
His posts were held at University of Bonn.
Medicine advances against a moving target, and its successes are counted in lives rather than papers.
That the work was done from German Reich matters: hospitals, training and research funding are unevenly distributed, and they decide which questions can be asked.
Alexander Carl Otto Westphal died in 1941, aged 78. What survives is the change in practice, which is how a medical life is actually measured.
Achievements
- Held posts at University of Bonn
