James Israel

James Adolf Israel (1848 to 1926) was a German urologist and surgeon born and died in Berlin. He is described as a pioneer of modern urologic surgery, an inventive plastic surgeon and an early clinical advocate of asepsis. He also gave the first description of the infection now called actinomycosis, caused by Gram-positive Actinomyces bacteria and notably Actinomyces israelii, and he shares credit for a slow-pulse reflex known as the Nicoladoni-Israel-Branham sign. He took his medical doctorate in Berlin on 3 June 1870 and served as a military physician in the Franco-Prussian War. After studying in Vienna he joined the Berlin Jewish hospital as a surgical assistant under Bernhard von Langenbeck, travelled to England in 1874 to learn Joseph Lister's antiseptic principles, and in 1880 formally succeeded Langenbeck there. In 1886 he opened his own antiseptically equipped private clinic. Two of his sons, Wilhelm and Arthur Israel, also became prominent surgeons.