Nikolai Pirogov's Birthday

Source: http://www.google.ru/logos/2010/pirogov10-hp.jpg

Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (Russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Пирого́в) (25 November [O.S. 13 November] 1810 – 5 December [O.S. 23 November] 1881) was a prominent Russian scientist, doctor, pedagogue, public figure, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1847). He is considered to be the founder of field surgery, and was one of the first surgeons in Europe to use ether as an anaesthetic. He was the first surgeon to use anaesthesia in a field operation (1847), invented various kinds of surgical operations, and developed his own technique of using plaster casts to treat fractured bones. His name is one of the most widely recognised in Russian medical history, and he is considered a Russian national hero. [Read more on Wikipedia]

Portrait of Nikolay Pirogov by Ilya Repin, 1881