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Birth of Nikolai I. Pirogov, greatest surgeon, scholar, founder of field surgery, prominent social figure and pedagogue
"The main thing is not to lose confidence in the significance of the work you devoted your life to, in benefit which you delivered to the suffering people..."
N. I. Pirogov
November 13 (25), 1810, in Moscow, into a family of military treasurer was born Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov - a surgeon and anatomist, naturalist and educator, founder of field surgery, founder of anesthesia.
Nikolai received secondary education first at home and then in a private school. At the age of 14, Pirogov entered the medical faculty of Moscow University. Having graduated in 1828, he was sent abroad to prepare for a professorship. At the age of 26, Nikolai Pirogov became a professor and headed the surgical clinic of the University of Dorpat.
In 1837-1839, Nikolai Pirogov published a monograph on the Achilles tendon transection and "Surgical anatomy of the arterial trunks and fascia," for which he was awarded the Demidov Prize by the Academy of Sciences. In 1841, Nikolai was invited to St. Petersburg to work at the department of surgery in the Medical-Surgical Academy as a professor of hospital surgery and applied anatomy. He was appointed head of the surgical department of the hospital. Pirogov had worked in the academy for almost 15 years, from 1841 to 1856. There he created the first Russian anatomical institute. During this time he wrote his famous anatomical works: a 12-volume "Complete course of applied anatomy of the human body" (1843-1848), "Pathological anatomy of the Asiatic cholera" (1849) and a 4-volume "Illustrated topographic anatomy of cuts made in three directions across a frozen human body "(1852-1859).
In 1847, Pirogov went to the Caucasus, where he first learned in practice about military surgery and the questions of field medical administration. There he successfully applied bandaging using starched bandages and first time in the history of medicine began to operate the wounded in the field using ether anesthesia. With the outbreak of the Crimean War, Pirogov went to Sevastopol at the head of Krestovozdvizhenskaya community of nurses. Operating the wounded, Nikolai Pirogov was the first in the history of medicine to apply a plaster cast, giving rise to saving tactics of treatment of injuries of extremities, thus avoiding amputation. There he first used the famous triage (the wounded were sorted according to the severity of injuries). N. I. Pirogov wrote: "Well organized triage at dressing stations and temporary military hospitals is the main tool to provide proper care to prevent combat capability and troubles which have harmful consequences."
In 1856, Pirogov started working as a custodian at the Odessa School District. Dissatisfaction of local authorities with reforms in education system led to the fact that in 1861, due to complaints and denunciations, Nikolai Ivanovich was dismissed by order of the emperor. A year later he was sent to Germany to lead the training of future professors. However, in 1866, he was dismissed from public service without pension rights.
After all the turmoil and failures in the state field, Pirogov resumed medical activities: in his estate "Cherry", not far from Vinnitsa, he organized a free hospital, where the famous surgeon wrote the "Diary of an Old Doctor." By the time Pirogov was an honorary member of several foreign academies, traveled upon invitations to lecture at the University of St. Petersburg or abroad.
In November 1868, refusing to return to public service, Pirogov wrote to his friend F. J. Carell: "It is true, no one could blame me for indifference to public business or self-interest... I sacrificed quite in my life for the common good. I served for free and did not receive any remuneration for 13 years in hospitals of St. Petersburg... I exchanged best practices and secure existence for tutorage of two educational districts and service abroad. Only one thing, such as a need of the fatherland, will find me always ready for unconditional and positive "yes."
In 1870, Pirogov was invited by the Directorate of the Red Cross to inspect military health care facilities in the theater of the Franco-Prussian War. Traveling to German hospitals, he always met the most honorable and friendly welcome. The result of his travels was a "Report on the visit of military care facilities in Germany, Alsace and Lorraine in 1870." In 1877, Pirogov was sent to the Turkish theater of military operations; after this trip, he published the "Military medicine and private aid in the war theater in Bulgaria and in the rear of the army in 1877-1878."
In 1881, St. Petersburg and Moscow celebrated the 50th anniversary of Pirogov’s activities as a scientist and public figure. Many West European scientific societies praised his scientific career and awarded him an honorary doctorate.
In the spring of 1881, Nikolai Pirogov was diagnosed with cancer of the upper jaw, and already in the fall, November 23 (December 5) 1881, the great surgeon died at his estate. Pirogov’s body was embalmed, using the technique he developed himself, and buried in the village church in a village near Vinnitsa.
After the death of Nikolai Pirogov, a Society of Russian doctors was founded in memory of N. I. Pirogov, which regularly convened Pirogov congresses.
Lit.: Геселевич А. М. Н. И. Пирогов. М., 1969; Геселевич А. М., Смирнов Е. И. Н. И. Пирогов. М., 1960; Глянцев С. П., Фёдоров В. Д. Гений есть высокая цель и власть над средствами её достижения. (К 200-летию со дня рождения Н.И. Пирогова) // Хирургия. 2010. № 11. С. 4-9; Красновский А. А. Педагогические идеи Н. И. Пирогова. М., 1949; Максименков А. Н. Н. И. Пирогов. Л., 1961.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Каптерев П. Ф. Пирогов, как общественный деятель и педагог. СПб., 1897;