Rudolph Nissen

Rudolph Nissen was a surgeon who chaired surgery departments in Turkey, the United States and Switzerland. The Nissen fundoplication, a surgical procedure for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease, is named after him. Nissen completed the first pneumonectomy by a Western physician in 1931. In 1948, he performed an abdominal surgery that extended the life of Albert Einstein by several years. He trained under German physicians Ludwig Aschoff and Ferdinand Sauerbruch. Nissen wrote an autobiography published at Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt in 1969 called “Helle Blätter, dunkle Blätter. Erinnerungen eines Chirurgen.“ (ISBN 978-3421014993) which was reviewed in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. A selection of his writings and lectures was published at Schattauer in 1997 under the title of “Fünfzig Jahre erlebter Chirurgie: Ausgewählte Vorträge und Schriften.“ (ISBN 978-3794506156).