Robert Ferdinand Wilms

Robert Ferdinand Wilms (September 9, 1824 - September 23, 1880) was a German surgeon who was a native of Arnswalde. He studied medicine in Berlin, and in 1848 became an assistant at the Bethanien Hospital in Berlin. From 1862 until his death in 1880, he was senior "Chefarzt" (chief physician) at Bethanien Hospital.

Wilms was a colleague of famed Berlin-Charité surgeon Bernhard von Langenbeck (1810-1887), and was a catalyst in establishing Bethanien Hospital as a center of learning for students and young surgical assistants. Some of his better known assistants in Berlin were Edmund Rose (1836-1914, Heinrich Irenaeus Quincke (1842-1922), Ernst Georg Ferdinand Küster (1839-1930) and Werner Körte (1853-1937), the latter having served as provisional head at the Bethanien when Wilms was incapacitated due to illness. Wilms made improvements to urethrotomy (surgery of the urethra), and reintroduced tracheal surgery for problems caused by diphtheria.

While still a student, Wilms was part of an expedition headed by Johannes Peter Müller (1801-1858) to Helgoland, where he researched chaetognaths, which were the topic of his thesis, "Observationes de Sagitta mare germanicum circa Helgoland".

References

* "This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia."