Leopold Landau (July 16, 1848 – December 28, 1920) was a German

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...

born in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Life and career

Landau studied medicine at the Universities of Breslau,

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, obtaining his doctorate at the latter institution in 1870. After serving as an assistant

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 ...

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 was a lecturer in gynecology at the University of Breslau (1872–76). Afterwards, he returned to

as a lecturer of gynecology, where in 1893 he became a full professor. In 1892 with his brother, Theodor Landau (1861–1932), he opened a ''Frauenklinik'' (''Women's clinic'') in Berlin that became well known throughout Germany. From here, he conducted medical research, publishing noted works on

myoma A myoma is a type of tumor that involves muscle cells. There are two main types of myoma: * Leiomyomas which occur in smooth muscle. They most commonly occur as uterine fibroids, but may also form in other locations. * Rhabdomyomas which occur ...

and radical

vaginal In mammals and other animals, the vagina (: vaginas or vaginae) is the elastic, muscular reproductive organ of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vulval vestibule to the cervix (neck of the uterus). The vaginal introit ...

operations. With his brother, he was co-author of ''Die Vaginale Radicaloperation: Technik und Geschichte'' (1896), being later translated into English and published a
''The history and technique of the vaginal radical operation''
(1897). Landau was active in the

Zionist movement Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the Jewish people, pursued through the colonization of Palestine, a region roughly co ...

and one of the founders of the ''Berlin Akademie für die Wissenschaft des Judentums'' (''Berlin Academy for the Science of Judaism''). He died in Berlin. His son was the famous

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

Edmund Landau Edmund Georg Hermann Landau (14 February 1877 – 19 February 1938) was a German mathematician who worked in the fields of number theory and complex analysis. Biography Edmund Landau was born to a Jewish family in Berlin. His father was Leopo ...

(1877-1938).

Selected writings

* ''Die Wanderniere der Frauen'', 1881. * ''Die Wanderleber und der Hängebauch der Frauen'', 1882. * ''Die Vaginale Radicaloperation: Technik und Geschichte'' (with Theodor Landau), 1896. * ''Anatomische und Klinische Beiträge zur Lehre von der Myomen am Weiblichen Sexualapparat'', 1899.

References

biography @

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...

Virtual Judaica
(biographical information) {{DEFAULTSORT:Landau, Leopold German gynaecologists Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin 19th-century German Jews Physicians from Warsaw 1848 births 1920 deaths Physicians of the Charité