Christian Albert Theodore Billroth
CHRISTIAN ALBERT THEODORE BILLROTH (1829-1894) more than any surgeon of his day, was responsible for development of modern surgery of the gastrointestinal tract. He was born on the Island of Ruegen, and studied at Greifswald, Göttingen and Berlin. He became famous as a teacher of surgical pathology and wrote an excellent treatise Die allgemeine chirurgische Pathologie und Therapie, (1863). His great surgical triumphs included the first resection of the esophagus (1872) the first resection of the pylorus for cancer (1881), and the first excision of the larynx.