Rudolf Nissen: His activities at the Cerrahpasa Surgical Clinic and his contributions to Turkish Surgery

Abstract

The 1933 University Reform was one of the advancements that the Republic showed with the targets set by Atatürk. In 1933, the will of building a new Turkey and the negative condition of the times resulted in positive outcomes. Rudolf Nissen was one of the young not able to stay in Germany because of the negative working conditions brought about by the Nazis. He was one of the scientists that had foreseen the negative working conditions before they were implemented and had left. He, together with pathologist Schwartz, was one of the first to sign an agreement with the Turkish Government.

Nissen was born in 1896, and in 1921 he became an assistant to the world famous surgeon Prof.Dr.Sauerbruch in Munich; he later became head assistant and professor. In 1931, he successfully completed the pneumonectomy and his fame spread throughout the world. In 1933, he was appointed to the Directorship of Istanbul University Medical Faculty's Cerrahpaşa 1 st Surgery Clinic at the age of 37 as a Ordinarius Professor. He made many productive Works as the head of the Surgical Clinic, and with the new operating techniques and the surgeons he trained made great contributions to Turkish surgery. Based on his efforts a new surgery building was planned and built. He wrote 4 Turkish and German surgical books and 62 Turkish scientific publications. He became a legend with his surgical operations, especially lung operations; for example, the operation he performed in 1936 was the basis for the Nissen fundoplication.

One of the great surgeons of the 20th century, Nissen went to the United States in 1939 and stayed there between 1940-1952, working around Boston and New York. He became the head of the Basel Surgery Clinic in Switzerland in 1952. He retired in Basel in 1967 and passed away in 1981. Nissen was the first from those who had left Germany to publish his memoirs. His fame continues in our country and he is remembered with admiration.