Christian Rudolph Wilhelm Wiedemann

Christian Rudolph Wilhelm Wiedemann ( born November 7, 1770 in Braunschweig, † December 21, 1840 in Kiel ) was a German obstetrician, scientists and university teachers. Research on Diptera, Hymenoptera and beetles made ​​him known as entomologists.

Life

Wiedemann's father Eberhard Conrad Wiedemann (1722-1804) was an art dealer. His mother was born Dorothea Frederike Raspe (1741-1804), an art-interested banker's daughter.

After his school education in Braunschweig in 1790, he enrolled at the University of Jena for medicine. He was a contemporary of the poet Friedrich von Hardenberg and one of the many student Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. He traveled Saxony and Bohemia, and his doctorate in 1792 for Dr. med. His interest in mineralogy he indulged on a study trip.

During a 14-month trip to southern England, he learned that the Collegium Carolinum Brunswick had appointed him professor at the Institute of Anatomy and Surgery. His inaugural lecture in October 1794 dealt with the missing sternum of a boy in South Wales.

On March 28, 1796 in Braunschweig Wiedemann married Louise Michaelis, a daughter of the Göttingen orientalist Johann David Michaelis.

Obstetrician

In 1804 he followed the call of the Christian -Albrechts- University of Kiel as Full Professor of Obstetrics. On 1 May 1805 he was able to enter the first birth in the Journal of the newly opened institution. Rising birth rates led only to a reduction of the absorption capacity of the Gebärhauses and a year later to the fact that Wiedemann had to lease another building complex in the Haßstraße in the old town (Kiel). Here, too, came quickly reach the limits of capacity. However, it took until 1809 until the crown of Denmark approved the purchase and remodeling. In October 1810, the maternity hospital in the Fleethörn could be obtained. The rising popularity made ​​1826 yet another extension necessary. In these years, Wiedemann stuck a large part of his forces in the improvement of conditions in the maternity hospital and in the school for midwives. It kept him this but not stop them from sharing his experiences as a midwife teacher. This is testified by his teaching and his textbooks. As an obstetrician Wiedemann enjoyed an excellent reputation, which was based on his rejection of unnatural methods of delivery as well as its openness to the cesarean section. Wiedemann go down in history as an outstanding midwives teacher and founder of the Women's Hospital Kiel. Through his involvement with the French and British views, he pointed the German obstetrics the way.

1809/10, 1820 /21, 1824/25 and 1825/26 he was rector of the University of Kiel.

Entomologist

Less known is his preoccupation with insects. It had particularly impressed him the non-European Fly. Wiedemann created in this field Understanding. To date, various Diptera are associated with his name. Lasting testimony are also numerous scientific papers and books in this field.

Works

That he was interested in many things, evidence of his medical publications such as the Handbook of Anatomy, a book about the vaccination in Kuhblattern, supply of gunshot wounds and the instruction to rescue the drowned, strangled, hanged. But also lay testimony from his publications in the field of mineralogy, translations of English-language literature and his artistic abilities.

Dwindling forces and the effects of a stroke left him more and more the help of his foster son and pupil Gustav Adolf Michaelis avail.