Theodor Kocher

Emil Theodor Kocher (1841 to 1917) was a Swiss physician and medical researcher who received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid. He introduced and promoted aseptic surgery and scientific methods in surgery, and reduced the mortality of his thyroidectomies below one percent. Born in Bern on 25 August 1841, he studied medicine at the University of Bern, where he was called to an ordinary professorship at the age of 30. He was the first Swiss citizen and the first surgeon to receive a Nobel Prize in Medicine, and he used the prize money to help establish the Kocher Institute in Bern.