Pieter Klazes Pel is remembered in medicine for work that altered practice rather than merely argument.
The record lists Pieter Klazes Pel as Dutch physician (1852–1919).
Pieter Klazes Pel was born at Drachten in 1852. His recorded nationality is Netherlands. He trained at Leiden 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 Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam and University of Amsterdam.
Most medical progress is invisible: it shows up as an illness that no longer kills anyone.
That the work was done from Netherlands matters: hospitals, training and research funding are unevenly distributed, and they decide which questions can be asked.
Pieter Klazes Pel died in 1919, aged 67. What survives is the change in practice, which is how a medical life is actually measured.
Achievements
- Held posts at University of Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam and University of Amsterdam
