August Socin

August Socin (1837 to 1899) was a Swiss surgeon and educator born in Vevey. He took his medical doctorate at the University of Wurzburg in 1857, became a hospital surgeon and then professor of surgery in Basel, where he held a full professorship from 1864. He gained practical experience in military hospitals at Verona and Karlsruhe and later wrote on surgical war experiences and on diseases of the prostate. He is credited with surgical innovations and specialised in gastrointestinal operations and the radical operation for hernia. He was among the first physicians in Europe to advocate Joseph Lister antiseptic practice, placed great weight on the training of medical students and argued for reforms in how they were taught. In Basel he also founded an institute that supplied the prosthetic needs of disabled war veterans.