Gustav Simon (30 May 1824 in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

– 21 August 1876 in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

) was a German

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

. In 1848 he earned his medical doctorate from the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking world. It is named afte ...

, and from 1848 to 1861 served as a military physician with a Hessian troop outfit. During this time he also worked at a small hospital in

that he co-founded. In 1861 at the request of Carl Friedrich Strempel (1800–1872), he was appointed professor at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock () is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Se ...

and director of the surgical clinic. In 1867 he succeeded Karl Otto Weber (1827–1867) at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

. During the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

he served as a physician in reserve hospitals. Simon was a member of the Corps Starkenburgia Giessen (1843) and Saxo-Borussia Heidelberg (1845). Simon specialized in the fields of

gynecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the Female reproductive system, female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obste ...

orthopedics Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (American and British English spelling differences, alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgic ...

and military surgery, and published a book involving his early experiences with gunshot wounds. In 1851-52 while in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, he had the chance to observe

Antoine Joseph Jobert de Lamballe Antoine Joseph Jobert de Lamballe (17 December 1799 – 19 April 1867) was a French surgeon. He was born at Matignon, studied medicine at Paris, and in 1830 became surgeon at the Hôpital Saint-Louis. He was elected to the Academy of Medic ...

’s operative treatment of vesicovaginal fistulae (VVF). Impressed by Jobert's success rate with VVF, Simon developed his own surgical technique for VVF when he returned to Darmstadt. Simon demonstrated that the excretion process remains functional in animals with one healthy

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

, and on 2 August 1869 performed the first planned

nephrectomy A nephrectomy is the surgical removal of a kidney, performed to treat a number of kidney diseases including kidney cancer. It is also done to remove a normal healthy kidney from a living or deceased donor, which is part of a kidney transplant pro ...

on a human, only eight years after the first nephrectomy by Erastus Bradley Wolcott. In 1872 with

Bernhard von Langenbeck Bernhard Rudolf Konrad von Langenbeck (9 November 181029 September 1887) was a German surgeon known as the developer of Langenbeck's amputation and founder of '' Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery''. Early life and education He was born at Pading ...

(1810-1887) and

Richard von Volkmann Richard von Volkmann (17 August 1830 – 28 November 1889) was a prominent German surgeon and author of poetry and fiction. Some of his works were illustrated by his son, Hans, a well known artist. Biography He was born in Leipzig on 17 Augus ...

(1830-1889), he founded the German Society of Surgery.

Literary works

* 1851, "''Über Schußwunden''" (About gunshot wounds),

Gießen Giessen, spelled in German (), is a town in the German state () of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 university students. Th ...

. * 1854, "''Über Heilung der Blasenscheidenfisteln''" (Concerning healing of vesicovaginal fistulae), Gießen. * 1857, "''Die Exstirpation der Milz''" (The extirpation of the

spleen The spleen (, from Ancient Greek '' σπλήν'', splḗn) is an organ (biology), organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The spleen plays important roles in reg ...

, Gießen. * 1862, "''Über die Operation der Blasenscheidenfisteln''" (About the operation for vesicovaginal fistulae),

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

. * 1868, "''Mitteilungen aus der chirurgischen Klinik zu Rostock''" (Reports from the surgical hospital at Rostock), Prag. * 1871-76 "''Chirurgie der Nieren''" (Surgery of the kidneys); (2 volumes),

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

References

''Gustav Simon''
@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

1824 births 1876 deaths Physicians from Darmstadt German surgeons People from the Grand Duchy of Hesse University of Giessen alumni Heidelberg University alumni Academic staff of Heidelberg University Academic staff of the University of Rostock {{Germany-med-bio-stub