Robert Michaelis von Olshausen (3 July 1835 – 1 February 1915) was a German

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

and

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...

. He was born in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

and died in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. He was the son of

Justus Olshausen Justus Olshausen (9 May 1800, Hohenfelde – 28 December 1882) was a German orientalist who made contributions to Semitic and Iranian philology. Biography Olshausen was born in Hohenfelde, and studied at Kiel, Berlin and Paris, where he was a s ...

(1800–82), a professor of

Oriental languages A wide variety of languages are spoken throughout Asia, comprising different language families and some unrelated isolates. The major language families include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Caucasian, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Turk ...

at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

Biography

In 1857 he obtained his doctorate from

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

, and afterwards served as an assistant to Eduard Arnold Martin in Berlin and to Anton Friedrich Hohl at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

. In 1863 he became an associate professor at Halle, followed by a full professorship during the following year. In 1887 he returned to Berlin as successor to Karl Ludwig Ernst Schroeder as director of the university ''Frauenklinik''. He is credited with introducing new obstetrical techniques into

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

. He was publisher of the journal "''Zeitschrift für Geburtshilfe und Gynäkologie''", and with

Johann Veit Johann Veit (17 June 1852, Berlin – 2 June 1917 near Schierke) was a German gynecologist. He was the son of obstetrician and gynecologist Gustav Veit (1824-1903). In 1874 he earned his medical degree at Humboldt University in Berlin, and in 187 ...

(1852–1917), he published Karl Schroeder's "''Lehrbuch der Geburtshülfe''" (from 1888, 10th to 12th editions, the last in 1899 as "''Lehrbuch der Geburshülfte''").Bibliography
@

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 bibliograph ...

Associated eponym

* Olshausen's suspension:

Suturing A surgical suture, also known as a stitch or stitches, is a medical device used to hold body tissues together and approximate wound edges after an injury or surgery. Application generally involves using a needle with an attached length of threa ...

the round ligaments and a portion of the broad ligaments of the uterus to the

abdominal wall In anatomy, the abdominal wall represents the boundaries of the abdominal cavity. The abdominal wall is split into the anterolateral and posterior walls. There is a common set of layers covering and forming all the walls: the deepest being the v ...

. A surgical procedure for retroversion of the uterus when pregnancy may be expected.Olshausen's method
@

Selected writings

* ''Krankheiten der Ovarien''. In

Theodor Billroth Christian Albert Theodor Billroth (26 April 18296 February 1894) was a German surgeon and amateur musician. As a surgeon, he is generally regarded as the founding father of modern abdominal surgery. As a musician, he was a close friend and conf ...

’s "Handbuch der Frauenkrankheiten", Stuttgart, 1877. 2nd edition in Theodor Billroth and Georg Albert Lücke, publishers: "Deutsche Chirurgie", Berlin, 1886 – Ovarian diseases * ''Ueber ventrale Operation bei Prolapsus und Retroversio uteri''. Zentralblatt für Gynäkologie, Leipzig, 1886, 10: 698–701. * ''Ueber Exstirpation der Vagina. Zentralblatt für Gynäkologie'', Leipzig, 1895, 19: 1–6. – On extirpation of the

vagina In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hymen ...

. * ''Lehrbuch der Geburtshilfe''. With Johann Veit. 5th edition, Bonn, 1902 – Textbook of obstetrics.

Notes

External links

* 1835 births 1915 deaths German obstetricians German gynaecologists Physicians from Kiel People from the Duchy of Holstein University of Königsberg alumni Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Academic staff of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg {{Germany-med-bio-stub