Rudolph Nissen

Life & Legacy

Rudolph Nissen (sometimes spelled Rudolf Nissen) (5 September 1896 – 22 January 1981) was a German 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 trained under German physicians Ludwig Aschoff and Ferdinand Sauerbruch. He completed the first pneumonectomy in 1931. In 1948, he performed an abdominal surgery that extended the life of Albert Einstein by several years. 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).