Maximilian Nitze

Maximilian Carl-Friedrich Nitze (September 18, 1848 - February 23, 1906) was a German urologist who was born in Berlin. He studied medicine at the Universities of Heidelberg, Würzburg and Leipzig. In 1874 he earned his doctorate, and subsequently became a medical assistant at the city hospital in Dresden. During the 1880s, Nitze founded a private urology hospital in Berlin. He later became a professor of urology at the University of Berlin.

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Nitze was a specialist regarding kidney 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. The Nitze-Leiter cystoscope was first publicly demonstrated in 1879. Functionally, it used an electrically heated platinum wire for illumination, a cooling system of flowing ice-water, and telescopic lenses for visualization. Invention of the incandescent light bulb by Thomas Edison 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. In 1901 the first endoscope-guided laparoscopy of a dog was performed by German physician Georg Kelling (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)

References

• This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia.
• Advent of Modern Endoscopy