Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria belongs to the medical record as a figure whose work changed what could be treated.
The record lists Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria as Spanish and Bavarian Royal and physician (1859-1949).
Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria was born at Madrid in 1859. His recorded nationality is Germany.
Anaesthesia, antisepsis and germ theory arrived within fifty years and made modern surgery possible for the first time.
Medicine advances against a moving target, and its successes are counted in lives rather than papers.
Recognition followed: Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece (1859), Order of the Black Eagle, Grand cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso XII (1904) and Order of Saint Hubert (1877).
That the work was done from Germany matters: hospitals, training and research funding are unevenly distributed, and they decide which questions can be asked.
Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria died in 1949, aged 90. What survives is the change in practice, which is how a medical life is actually measured.
Achievements
- Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece — 1859
- Order of the Black Eagle
- Grand cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso XII — 1904
- Order of Saint Hubert — 1877
