Nicholas Senn

Born in Switzerland in 1844, he moved with his family to Wisconsin as a child and later studied medicine at Chicago Medical College. He built a major career as a surgeon and teacher, becoming widely known for his work in abdominal surgery and for his unusually hands-on, investigative approach to medical problems.

He taught and practiced in the Midwest, especially in Milwaukee and Chicago, and became one of the most prominent American surgeons of his era. He also played an important role in professional medicine, serving as president of the American Medical Association and founding the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States.

Senn's work reached beyond the hospital ward. During the Spanish-American War he served as chief surgeon of the Sixth Army Corps, and he was also a prolific medical writer whose books and papers helped spread new surgical ideas. He died in Chicago in 1908, remembered as a forceful figure in the development of modern American surgery.