Ferdinand August Maria Franz von Ritgen

Ferdinand August Maria Franz von Ritgen (1787 to 1867) was a German obstetrician and naturalist, born in the Westphalian village of Wulfen, now part of Dorsten, and remembered for his instruction in midwifery. He studied at Giessen and then worked as district medical officer at Stadtberge. In 1814 he was given the chair of surgery and obstetrics at the University of Giessen, where he later founded a school for midwives and served as university rector in 1825 to 1826 and again in 1837 to 1838. He edited the journal Gemeinsame deutsche Zeitschrift für Geburtskunde. His name is attached to Ritgen's maneuver, an obstetrical technique in which the head of the child is delivered by pressure on the perineum while the speed of delivery is controlled by pressure with the other hand on the head. Ritgen also worked in natural science, publishing in botany, geology, zoology and astronomy. In 1826 he proposed the dinosaur name Megalosaurus conybeari for fragmentary fossils from England, a name overtaken the next year by Megalosaurus bucklandii, and in 1828 he described the North American turtle genus Clemmys. His son was the architect Hugo von Ritgen.