Lorenz Heister

Lorenz Heister (Latin: Laurentius Heister) (September 19, 1683 - April 18, 1758) was a German anatomist, surgeon and botanist who was a native of Frankfurt am Main. From 1702 to 1706 he studied at the Universities of Giessen and Wetzlar, and afterwards went to Amsterdam where he studied anatomy under Frederik Ruysch (1638-1731). In the summer of 1707 he was an assistant physician in field hospitals at Brussels and Ghent during the War of the Spanish Succession. Afterwards he went to Leiden and studied anatomy under Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (1653-1721) and Govert Bidloo (1649-1713), and also attended Hermann Boerhaave’s (1668-1738) lectures on chemistry and ocular diseases. In 1708 he earned his doctorate at the University of Harderwijk, and a year later rejoined the Dutch Army as a field surgeon at the Battles of Oudenarde and Malplaquet.

1711 he was appointed professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Altdorf, and in 1720 became professor of anatomy and surgery at Helmstädt, where he remained for rest of his life. Among his numerous written works, his best known is Chirurgie, which was translated into several languages. This surgical book was used extensively in Japan, and was still used as a standard text at Vienna as late as 1838. Also, Heister's botanical garden in Helmstädt was considered one of the most beautiful in Germany.

In 1718, Heister is credited for coining the word "tracheotomy", and was the first physician to study the pathology of appendicitis. His name is lent to the plant genus Heisteria, as well as to the Spiral valves of Heister, which are anatomical folds of the cystic duct.