Ernst von Bergmann

Ernst Gustav Benjamin von Bergmann
Ernst von Bergmann
Born	16 December 1836 Riga, Livonia Governorate
Died	25 March 1907 (1907-03-26) (aged 70) Wiesbaden
Nationality	Baltic German
Fields	Surgeon
Institutions	University of Berlin
Alma mater	University of Dorpat
Known for	Sterilisation of surgical instruments and Hydrocolectomy

Ernst von Bergmann (16 December 1836 – 25 March 1907) was a Baltic German surgeon. He is a pioneer of aseptic surgery.

Born in Riga, Livonia Governorate (now Latvia), in 1860 he earned his doctorate at the University of Dorpat. He then worked as an assistant at the surgical clinic, and trained for surgery under Georg von Adelmann (his future father-in-law), and Georg von Oettingen. He received his certification in 1864. From 1871 to 1878 he was a professor of surgery at Dorpat. In 1878 he became a professor at Würzburg; in 1882 he relocated to the University of Berlin as a successor to Bernhard von Langenbeck. He continued as a professor of surgery at Berlin for the remainder of his career. Two of his assistants in Berlin were Curt Schimmelbusch (1860–1895) and Friedrich Gustav von Bramann (1854–1913). His son, Gustav von Bergmann (1878–1955) was a noted doctor of internal medicine.

Bergmann was the first physician to introduce heat sterilisation of surgical instruments, thus greatly reducing the number of infections in surgery. He also used steam sterilized dressing material, demonstrating its superiority to chemical antisepsis. He was also an early adopter of the "white coat".