The teachers and mentors of Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov – the genius anatomist and surgeon of the world medicine

Abstract

The paper considers the influence of life circumstances and people of different professions on the development of Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov’s personality as an outstanding scientist, anatomist and surgeon. As a child, Nikolai Ivanovich lived in quite a prosperous family to pay for the worthy education for their children. Respectale teachers of medicine were invited to the Pirogovs' house such as G.M. Berezkin and A.M. Klaus. But the most significant figure for Pirogov as a child was the family doctor Efrem Osipovich Mukhin who was a Professor of anatomy and physiology at the Imperial Moscow University. So at the age of 14 Nikolai Ivanovich became a student of that University being under the influence of such scientists as Yu.Kh. Loder, M.Ya. Mudrov, and F.A. Hilderbrandt. In 1828 Pirogov finished the Faculty of Medicine and entered the Imperial Moscow University of Dorpat where he studied under the famous surgeon, Professor I.F. Moyer who became his mentor and favourite teacher. Further improvement of skills and mastery acquisition took place at the University of Berlin in 1833 under the influence of the anatomist F. Schlemm, the physiologist I.M. Muller, the preparator Mrs. Vogelsang, the surgeons K. Grefe, I. Dieffenbach, J.N. Rusta, and K.I.M. Langenbeck. Also, Nikolai Ivanovich was lucky to cooperate and learn from the famous French scientists like Velpo, Lisfranc, Larrey, Jaubert, Amyusse. Life circumstances such as complicated relationships with colleagues due to the challenges in organizing medical care during wars and epidemics dramatically influenced Pirogov’s development as a medical scientist. Thus, the well-deserved immortal fame of the medical science genius Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov obtained was owing to his teachers, mentors and the environment. As demonstrated by N.I. Pirogov’s life, both a person and their teachers look for one another especially when the student reveals their talent, desire for knowledge, skills, and the ability to work hard. The authors devoted this paper to the people who influenced the scientific views development of N.I. Pirogov, an outstanding scientist, surgeon and anatomist.