The Dutchman Herman Boerhaave and the Russian Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov are brilliant medical scientists, whose remembrance will be eternal

Abstract

The Dutchman Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738) and the Russian Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (1810–1881) were brilliant physicians who made significant contributions to the practice of medicine. Herman Boerhaave graduated as a doctor in 1693 and eventually became professor of medicine, botany and chemistry at the University of the city Leiden. He is perhaps best known as a teacher and for introducing bedside teaching to the medical curriculum. Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov qualified as a physician in 1828 at the Moscow University, was awarded with his PhD at the German-Baltic University of Dorpat in 1832. In 1836 he was appointed as a professor in Dorpat and in 1841 as professor of surgery and applied anatomy at the Imperial Medico-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg. Scientific achievements of N. I. Pirogov in medicine are multifaceted: he is the originator of unique technologies for studying the structure of a human being and developed anatomical atlases on these technologies. He was a virtuoso surgeon, an early adopter of ether anaesthesia, and innovator of medical triage and evacuation of the wounded. Why in one article a comparison the scientific achievements of these two brilliant personalities, who have entered the world history of medicine, are investigated, becomes clear from the words of N. I. Pirogov, who greatly appreciated Herman Boerhaave. Pirogov wrote that “…he did not consider himself an equal to Herman Boerhaave…” Was Pirogov right or were it modest words, this is up to the reader to decide. The influence of Anglo-Saxon literature and scientific schools, the role of Herman Boerhaave in the professional development of N. I. Pirogov, and the innovations created by them in medicine were analysed on basis of archival documents.