Bernhard Rudolf Konrad Langenbeck

Born Nov. 8, 1810, in Parding-biittel (near Bremerhaven); died Sept. 29, 1887, in Wiesbaden. German surgeon.

Langenbeck graduated from the University of Göttingen in 1834. He was a professor there in the departments of physiology and pathological anatomy from 1838 to 1841. He became a professor of surgery in Kiel in 1841 and in Berlin in 1848. He was director of the surgical clinic of the University of Berlin from 1848 to 1882.

Langenbeck developed a number of new methods for the surgical treatment of tumors, complicated fractures, and acquired defects of the bones and joints; more than 20 surgical operations are named for him. He made substantial contributions to the development of both maxillofacial surgery and military field surgery. He inspired the most important school of surgery in Europe, whose representatives included T. Billroth and J. F. Esmarch. Langenbeck founded a surgical journal in 1860 (now called Langenbeck Archiv fü r klinische Chirurgie) and the Society of German Surgeons in 1872.