Wilhelm Fabry

Wilhelm Fabry, also known as William Fabry, Guilelmus Fabricius Hildanus and Fabricius von Hilden, was a German surgeon who lived from 1560 to 1634 and is often called the Father of German surgery. He is described as the first educated and scientific German surgeon and as one of the most prominent scholars of the iatromechanics school, and he wrote twenty medical books. His Observationum et Curationum Chirurgicarum Centuriae, published after his death in 1641, is regarded as the best collection of case records of its century and shows the variety and methods of his surgical practice. He developed new surgical techniques and instruments, devised a device for operating on eye tumours, and wrote a notable treatise on burns. Born in Hilden, he served as city surgeon in Payerne and Lausanne and then as city surgeon of Bern until his death.