Volkmann, Richard von. (1830-1889).

Surgeon Richard von Volkmann was born in Leipzig, Germany, on 17 Aug. 1830. Volkmann earned his medical degree in Berlin in 1854 and in 1857 established a private practice in Halle. In 1867, he became a Professor of Surgery and the Director of the Surgical Clinic in Halle.

In 1870, Volkmann began editing his "Collection of clinical lectures". Contributing physicians and professors addressed many controversial topics, including Joseph Lister's theory on antiseptic wound treatment. As a field physician during the Prussian-French War, Volkmann utilized the latest surgical practices, including the techniques recommended by Lister. Shortly after the war, in 1872, Volkmann, Gustav Simon, and Bernhard von Langenbeck formed the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie (German Surgical Society). In 1879, he established a new clinic in Halle which became a center of surgical instruction in Europe. Volkmann wrote fiction and poetry under the pseudonymn Richard Leander. On 28 Nov. 1889, Richard von Volkmann died of chronic spinal disease in Jena, Germany.

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