Dietrich Barfurth belongs to the medical record as a figure whose work changed what could be treated.
The record lists Dietrich Barfurth as German anatomist (1849–1927).
Dietrich Barfurth was born at Dinslaken in 1849. His recorded nationality is Germany. He trained at University of Göttingen.
Anaesthesia, antisepsis and germ theory arrived within fifty years and made modern surgery possible for the first time.
His posts were held at Imperial University of Dorpat and University of Rostock.
The recorded fields of work are medicine, anatomy and zoology.
Medicine advances against a moving target, and its successes are counted in lives rather than papers.
That the work was done from Germany matters: hospitals, training and research funding are unevenly distributed, and they decide which questions can be asked.
Dietrich Barfurth died in 1927, aged 78. What survives is the change in practice, which is how a medical life is actually measured.
Achievements
- Held posts at Imperial University of Dorpat and University of Rostock
- Fields: medicine, anatomy and zoology
