Maximilian Carl-Friedrich Nitze (September 18, 1848 - February 23, 1906) was a German urologist who was born 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...

. He studied medicine at the Universities of Heidelberg, Würzburg

University of Würzburg

The University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group.-Name:...

 and Leipzig

University of Leipzig

The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...

. In 1874 he earned his doctorate, and subsequently became a medical assistant at the city hospital in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

. During the 1880s, Nitze founded a private urology hospital in Berlin. He later became a professor of urology at the University of Berlin.

Nitze was a specialist regarding kidney

Kidney

The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...

 and other urological disorders. Along with Viennese instrument maker Joseph Leiter (1830–1892), he is credited with the invention of the modern cystoscope; a device used in diagnostics of the bladder

Urinary bladder

The urinary bladder is the organ that collects urine excreted by the kidneys before disposal by urination. A hollow muscular, and distensible organ, the bladder sits on the pelvic floor...

. The Nitze-Leiter cystoscope was first publicly demonstrated in 1879. Functionally, it used an electrically heated platinum

Platinum

Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...

 wire for illumination, a cooling system of flowing ice-water, and telescopic lenses for visualization. Invention of the incandescent light bulb

Incandescent light bulb

The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe makes light by heating a metal filament wire to a high temperature until it glows. The hot filament is protected from air by a glass bulb that is filled with inert gas or evacuated. In a halogen lamp, a chemical process...

 by Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

 allowed further improvements to the cystoscope; in 1887 Nitze constructed an apparatus that no longer needed a cooling-system.

Nitze is also credited with producing the first endoscopic photographs. Soon after Nitze's death in 1906, the cystoscope was used to perform the first thoracoscopy

Thoracoscopy

Thoracoscopy is a medical procedure involving internal examination, biopsy, and/or resection of disease or masses within the pleural cavity and thoracic cavity...

. In 1901 the first endoscope-guided laparoscopy

Laparoscopy

Laparoscopy is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis through small incisions with the aid of a camera...

 of a dog was performed by German physician Georg Kelling

Georg Kelling

Georg Kelling was a German internist and surgeon who was born in Dresden. He studied medicine at the Universities of Leipzig and Berlin. He earned his medical doctorate in 1890, and later worked as a physician at the city hospital in Dresden.Kelling was a specialist concerning gastrointestinal...

(1866-1945). Today the Maximilian Nitze Medal is awarded by the German Society of Urology for special contributions in the field of urology.

Written works

• Lehrbuch der Kystoskopie, Wiesbaden 1889 (2. Auflage 1907) (Handbook on cystoscopy).
• Kystophotographischer Atlas, Wiesbaden 1894. (Cystoscopic Photography)