Bernhard Heine

Bernhard Heine ( born August 20, 1800 Schramberg (Black Forest), † July 31, 1846 in Hartlisberg in Thun ( CH) ) was a physician, bone specialist and inventor of the osteotome.

Apprenticeship in Würzburg

Bernhard Heine was born on August 20, 1800 the son of a White Gerbers in Schramberg. Even with ten ( according to other sources thirteen ) years he was given by his uncle Johann Georg Heine in Würzburg in the doctrine as orthopedic technician. Without enrollment, he later attended medical lectures at the Julius- Maximilians- University. After several trips he took over in 1822 a separate department at the Caroline Institute and took over the management, as the uncle in 1829 moved to Holland.

Invention of the osteotome

1830 Bernard Heine gave the art a medical instrument he had developed after years of research. It was a bone saw, which he called osteotome and with the aid of the surgical technique has been revolutionized. Early as 1836 published a dissertation on The osteotome and its application and Heine traveled through Germany, France and Russia to introduce it to the medical profession. To be an offer of the Russian Tsar Nicholas, orthopedic director of the Imperial boarding school in Kronstadt, Heine refused and returned to Würzburg. The 1836 issued by the University honorary doctorate two years later became the Honorary Professorship for the physician not finish the exam. Numerous other honors in German and European countries followed.

Research on bone formation

Bernhard Heine arrived at still valid today findings on bone formation and bone regeneration ( formation of new bone after injury ). Heine proved that the periosteum, the periosteum in bone formation plays an important role and therefore to conserve during the operation is. His early death prevented that he was able to publish his findings in a scientific oeuvre. He has taught since 1844 as associate professor at the University of Würzburg experimental physiology, but was a tuberculosis soon incapacitated and died in a relaxing holiday in Switzerland. Only eighty years after his death (1926 ) the research results were rediscovered and published.