August Gottlieb Richter (13 April 1742 – 23 July 1812) 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 ...

, born in

Zörbig Zörbig () is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approximately 15 km west of Bitterfeld, and 20 km northeast of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle (Saale). Zörbig is well known for its molas ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Biography

Richter received his doctorate from the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

in 1764, and spent most of his subsequent career in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

as a professor and surgeon. In 1771 he attained the position of ''professor ordinarius'' (full professor). Among his better known writings was a seven volume work on the treatment of wounds, called ''Anfangsgründe der Wundarzneikunst''. From 1771 until 1797, he was editor of the surgical journal, ''Chirugische Bibliothek''. Richter did extensive research in the field of

ophthalmology Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

, publishing in 1773, an influential treatise on

cataract extraction Cataract surgery, also called lens replacement surgery, is the removal of the natural lens of the eye that has developed a cataract, an opaque or cloudy area. The eye's natural lens is usually replaced with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL) ...

titled ''Abhandlung von der Ausziehung des grauen Stars''. The eponymous "

Richter's hernia A Richter's hernia occurs when the antimesenteric wall of the intestine protrudes through a defect in the abdominal wall. This is distinct from other types of abdominal hernias in that only one intestinal wall protrudes through the defect, such th ...

" was first described by him. This disorder is a

strangulated hernia A hernia (: hernias or herniae, from Latin, meaning 'rupture') is the abnormal exit of tissue or an organ, such as the bowel, through the wall of the cavity in which it normally resides. The term is also used for the normal development of the in ...

in which only part of the circumference of the bowel wall is affected. With this type of

hernia A hernia (: hernias or herniae, from Latin, meaning 'rupture') is the abnormal exit of tissue or an organ (anatomy), organ, such as the bowel, through the wall of the cavity in which it normally resides. The term is also used for the normal Devel ...

, there is an absence of intestinal blockage. In 1774, Richter was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

Principal writings

* ''Chirurgische Bibliothek'', 15 volumes. Göttingen and

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

, 1771–1797. Considered to be the first German surgical report journal. * ''Abhandlung von den Brüchen'', two volumes, 1778, 1779; second edition, 1785. Treatise on

fractures Fracture is the appearance of a crack or complete separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress (mechanics), stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacemen ...

. * ''Anfangsgründe der Wundarzneikunst'', seven volumes, 1792–1804. Medicinische und chirurgische Bemerkungen, vorzüglich im akad. Hospital gesammelt. Volume I, II, 1793, 1813. English translation,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, 1794 - Rudiments of wound treatment. * ''Specielle Therapie'', nine volumes & supplement volumes,

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 ...

, 1813–1836; published posthumously by his son, Georg August Richter (1778-1832).Bibliography of Richter
at ''

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 ...

References

External links

''August Gottlieb Richter''
at ''

'' 1742 births 1812 deaths People from Zörbig German surgeons 18th-century German physicians Academic staff of the University of Göttingen Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences University of Göttingen alumni Surgeons from the Holy Roman Empire {{Germany-med-bio-stub