Alexander Kølpin (surgeon)

Alexander Kølpin (1731 to 1801) was a German-born Danish surgeon who rose to the top of the surgical profession in Copenhagen. Born in Uetersen in Holstein, the son of the headmaster of the local abbey school, he was articled to a local surgeon in 1746, studied in Hamburg from 1749 and moved to Copenhagen in 1752. In 1755 he became regiment surgeon to the Jutland Infantry Regiment, and in 1766 he was appointed chief surgeon at Royal Frederick's Hospital. From 1784 to 1794 he was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Surgery. He also held the title of court surgeon, in which he was succeeded by Frederik Christian Winsløw, and was a councillor of justice. He never married, and he left his large library to the Academy of Surgery, from which it passed to Copenhagen University Library. A bust of him is displayed in Domus Medica in Copenhagen.