Emil Theodor Kocher
| Emil Theodor Kocher | |
|---|---|
Emil Theodor Kocher
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| Born |
25 August 1841 Bern, Switzerland |
| Died | 27 July 1917 (aged 75) |
| Known for | Developer of Thyroid surgery |
| Medical career | |
| Profession | Surgeon |
| Institutions | University of Bern |
| Notable prizes | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1909) |
Emil Theodor Kocher (25 August 1841 – 27 July 1917) was a Swiss physician and medical researcher who received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid. Among his many accomplishments are the introduction and promotion of aseptic surgery and scientific methods in surgery, specifically reducing the mortality of thyroidectomies below 1% in his operations.
He was the first Swiss citizen and the first surgeon to ever receive a Nobel prize. He was considered a pioneer and leader in the field of surgery in his time.
Kocher's father was Jakob Alexander Kocher (1814-1893), the sixth of seven children to Samuel Kocher (1771-1842), a carpenter, and Barbara Sutter (1772-1849). Jakob Alexander Kocher was a railway engineer and he moved in 1845 to Burgdorf, Switzerland (near Bern) because of his job as regional engineer of Emmental (Bezirksingenieur). He was named chief engineer for street and water in the canton of Bern at an age of only 34 years and he moved with his family to the capital, the city of Bern. In 1858 he left the states service and managed several engineering projects around Bern.
Theodor Kocher's mother was Maria Kocher (née Wermuth) living from 1820 to 1900. She was a very religious woman and part of the Moravian Church; together with Jakob Alexander, she raised a family of five sons and one daughter (Theodor Kocher was the second son).
Theodor Kocher was born on 25 August 1841 in Bern and baptized in the local Bern Minster on 16 September 1841. Together with the family, he moved to Burgdorf in 1845 where he started school. Later his family moved back to Bern where he went to middle and high school (Realschule and Literaturgymnasium) where he was the first of his class. During high school, Theodor was interested in many subjects and was specifically drawn to art and classical philology but finally decided to become a doctor.
He started his studies after obtaining the Swiss Matura in 1858 at the University of Bern where Anton Biermer and Hermann Askan Demme were teaching, two professors that impressed him most. He was a studious and dedicated student but still became a member of the Schweizerischer Zofingerverein, a Swiss fraternity. He obtained his doctorate in Bern in 1865 (March 1865) or 1866 with his dissertation about Behandlung der croupösen Pneumonie mit Veratrum-Präparaten (literal English translation: The treatment of croupous pneumonia with Veratrum preparations.) under professor Biermer with the predicate summa cum laude unamimiter.
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