Conrad Brunner (31 August 1859 in
Diessenhofen
Diessenhofen is a village and a municipality in Frauenfeld District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. The village is situated on the south shore of the High Rhine just opposite the German town of Gailingen am Hochrhein.
History
Diessenhof ...
– 8 June 1927 in
Zurich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
) was a
Swiss
Swiss most commonly refers to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Swiss may also refer to: Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss Café, an old café located ...
physician, surgeon and medical historian. He was particularly concerned with the disinfection of wounds and their healing.
Brunner came from a family of Swiss physicians and pharmacists, among whom was
Johann Conrad Brunner.
His father, John Brunner, was a physician and botanist.
Brunner received medical degrees from the
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...
and the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
, and went on to receive an advanced
academic degree
An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions often offer degrees at various levels, usually divided into und ...
of Doctor of Medicine in 1885.
He then completed his practical surgeon training studying under
Rudolf Ulrich Krönlein.
Beginning in 1888 he took a series of trips to noted surgeries, studying under
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 ...
at the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
,
Ernst von Bergmann
Ernst Gustav Benjamin von Bergmann (16 December 1836 – 25 March 1907) was a Baltic German surgeon. He was the first physician to introduce heat sterilisation of surgical instruments and is known as a pioneer of aseptic surgery.
Early life ...
at
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...
, and other surgeons at the University of Leipzig, the
University of Dresden and the
University of Münich. In 1888, with the third volume in 1889, he published his ''Erfahrungen und Studien über Wundinfektion und Wundbehandlung''.
Life
In 1889 Brunner married Clara Margot
and opened a private practice in Zurich, with
privileges at a number of nearby hospitals. Beginning in 1890 he served as an
associate professor
Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''.
In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...
of surgery at the University of Zurich, relinquishing the position in 1897.
From 1896 to 1922 he served as the chief physician at the Cantonal Hospital in
Münsterlingen.
In 1922 he was the co-founder of the Thurgauisch-Schaffhausischen Pulmonary Sanatorium in
Davos
Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...
, primarily for
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
sufferers.
Work
Conrad Brunner conducted and published clinical, bacteriological and experimental studies on the effectiveness of various contemporary wound disinfection methods. He was able to prove that his method, namely the ''Brunner's Jodalkoholdesinfektion'', offered by far the best guarantee against the occurrence of wound diseases.
Brunner researched and published on topics in the history of medicine, mostly as related to Switzerland.
Selected publications
* in three volumes.
*
*
*
Honours
* 1921 Conrad Brunner received the Marcel Benoist Prize in recognition of his achievements in the field of wound care and wound disinfection.
* 1922 Conrad Brunner received an honorary philosophy doctorate from the University of Zurich for his research on the history of medicine.
Notes
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunner, Conrad
1859 births
1927 deaths
People from Frauenfeld District
19th-century Swiss physicians
20th-century Swiss physicians
Academic staff of the University of Zurich
Leipzig University alumni
University of Zurich alumni
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni