title: Back to the roots of modern neurosurgery: neurosurgical pioneers in Halle an der Saale.
abstract: At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, German surgeons played a large role in the development of neurologic surgery. Many of them, however, have not been fully appreciated by the neurosurgical community until now. Pioneering personalities like F. Krause and F. von Bramann have contributed considerably to the early establishment of standard neurosurgical principles and operative techniques. Alexander Stieda was their successor and kept alive the neurosurgical tradition in Halle until the end of World War II. This middle-sized city in Central Germany, with an old university where Martin Luther once taught, was especially privileged to be one of the places where some of the best-qualified and restless surgeons have practiced neurologic surgery and done work in progress. This paper traces the biographies of the great old masters of German neurosurgery in search of the "Halle connection" to the progress of our field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Rainov
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Gantchev
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Burkert
mesh_terms: D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000266:history / Q000601:surgery; D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000266:history*; D012668:Trigeminal Ganglion / Q000601:surgery; D000078329:Workforce