Ludwig Rehn
Encyclopedia
Ludwig Wilhelm Carl Rehn (April 13, 1849, Bad Sooden-Allendorf
Bad Sooden-Allendorf
-Location:The spa town of Bad Sooden-Allendorf lies in the Werra valley near the Hoher Meißner, right on the boundary with Thuringia, almost at Germany’s geographical centre, 33 km east of Kassel.-Neighbouring communities:...

 – May 29, 1930) was a German surgeon. Rehn was born in 1849, in the village of Allendorf
Bad Sooden-Allendorf
-Location:The spa town of Bad Sooden-Allendorf lies in the Werra valley near the Hoher Meißner, right on the boundary with Thuringia, almost at Germany’s geographical centre, 33 km east of Kassel.-Neighbouring communities:...

, the youngest of five children. After the visiting the convent school in Bad Hersfeld
Bad Hersfeld
The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel....

, he studied medicine at the University of Marburg from 1869 to 1874, where he became a member of the student corps
German Student Corps
Corps are the oldest still-existing kind of Studentenverbindung, Germany's traditional university corporations; their roots date back to the 15th century. The oldest corps still existing today was founded in 1789...

 Hasso-Nassovia.

Rehn served as a volunteer in the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

 of 1870-71. In 1875 he received his doctorate from University of Marburg and started to practice at Griesheim
Griesheim
Griesheim is a town in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, in Hessen, Germany. It is situated approx. 7 km west of Darmstadt.-History:...

 near Frankfurt am Main and later in Rödelheim
Rödelheim (Frankfurt am Main)
Rödelheim is a district or Stadtteil of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Mitte-West, and is subdivided into the Stadtbezirke Rödelheim-Ost and Rödelheim-West....

. While there in 1880, he carried out the first thyroidectomy
Thyroidectomy
A thyroidectomy is an operation that involves the surgical removal of all or part of the thyroid gland. Surgeons often perform a thyroidectomy when a patient has thyroid cancer or some other condition of the thyroid gland...

. From 1886 on he was a surgeon and late head of department and manager of the surgical facility of the urban hospital in Frankfurt am Main.

In 1914, he was appointed professor of surgery at the newly founded University of Frankfurt am Main. During the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 he served as a surgeon general. Rehn was also a member of the scientific senate of the Kaiser Wilhelm Akademie in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

.

Rehn is remembered for creating the clarification of the causes of cancer with workers in the local aniline
Aniline
Aniline, phenylamine or aminobenzene is an organic compound with the formula C6H5NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the prototypical aromatic amine. Being a precursor to many industrial chemicals, its main use is in the manufacture of precursors to polyurethane...

 factories.

Rehn was the first to successfully conduct heart surgery, when on September 9, 1896 repaired a stab wound suffered by 22-year-old gardner Wilhelm Justus.

He died in 1930. His grandson Götz Rehn is the founder and current head of Alnatura, a German chain of bio-food markets.

Honors

The Ludwig Rehn-Prize, donated in 1973 by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Frankfurt am Main, has been awarded since 1974 for excellent scientific work in the area of the general surgery. Additionally, Ludwig Rehn-Strasse in Frankfurt am Main was named after him.
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