Abstract
n 1747, Gerhard van Swieten (1700-1772), personal physician to Empress Maria Theresia and reformer of medical education in Austria, founded a bonne ecole de chirurgie in Vienna. He invited the Florentine Natalis Giuseppe Pallucci (1719-1797), whom he had specially trained in Paris, France, to Vienna to assist him with the school. However, although van Swieten was highly successful as a reformer of the medical curriculum, his attempt to transform surgery from a craft into an academic discipline failed. 1 Emperor Joseph II, son of Empress Maria Theresia and successor to the throne, also attempted to raise the standing of surgery. In 1785, he founded a school for military surgeons later called Joseph's Academy. Joseph II's protochirurgus, Giovanni Alessandro Brambilla (1728-1800), became the first director of the school, which was modeled on the Academie Royale de Chirurgie in Paris. The Josephinum, a building in beautiful classical style, still exists today in Vienna.
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