Carl von Rokitansky

[1] He was the founder of science-based diagnostics,[2][3] connecting clinical with pathological results in a feedback loop that is standard practice today but was daring in Rokitansky's day.His doctoral thesis was entitled "De Varioloide Vaccinica",[9] and was a study of the smallpox vaccination, as he had very early on developed an interest in serology.From 3 January 1827 onwards Rokitansky began working at the Pathological-Anatomical Prosecture as an unpaid assistant, as can be seen from some of his early autopsy protocols.While contemporary pathologists, such as Gabriel Andral and Jean Frédéric Lobstein, compiled autopsy reports containing descriptions of illnesses they did not make any diagnoses or connect their findings with the clinician who Bad treated the patient when alive.In close collaboration with the internist Joseph Škoda he made clear the relationships between clinical symptoms that can be seen, felt or heard and pathological changes to organs, i.e. clinico-pathological correlation.From the 1830s onwards medical students and physicians from all over the world came to Vienna to learn about Rokitansky's diagnostic methods and nosology, which soon became known internationally as the Young or New Viennese School.The importance subsequently given to the psyche paved the way not only for Sigmund Freud, psychology and psychoanalysis, according to Eric Kandel it also influenced modernist art which turned its gaze below the surface appearance of things and placed the depiction of its models' emotions in the foreground.In response to the stream of physicians and students from abroad who came to Austria to study Rokitansky's methods, the manual was translated into a number of languages to worldwide acclaim.It was published in countries including Rokitansky's Doctrine of Crases and Dyscrases as the Groundwork for Modern Humoral Pathology: Ancient humoral pathology based on the theory of the four humours espoused by Hippocrates was concerned with the balance of the four bodily fluids, blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm and considered that illness was the result of an imbalance of these fluids.However, this did not mean that he disavowed his theory and thus he petitioned for the establishment of two new faculties in Vienna, the Institute of Medical Chemistry and the Department for General and Experimental Pathology, to press ahead with research in these fields.[36] In December 1846, after staying just 10 days in Vienna, Virchow presented the Minister of Education Friedrich Eichhorn (1779–1856) with a programme on pathological anatomy.In his report Virchow criticised several respected Austrian scientists, but focused chiefly on Rokitansky as the founder of the New Viennese School.What became known as the "Doctors' Revolution" was prepared by 40 physicians in Rokitansky's pathology department, as that location was not under police surveillance during the Metternich era.As a consequence, Rokitansky spent 35 years working in the old building which he described as being in such a state that it would "cause lasting harm to even the most robust health".By virtue of the key positions he held in various academic and political bodies, Rokitansky also had a significant influence on Liberalism in Austria.As the main speaker for the Liberal Party in the chamber, Rokitansky demanded in 1868 that each confession with the resources to do so should have the right to open schools for its children.In his commemorative speech on the occasion of the opening of the Institute of Pathological Anatomy at the General Hospital of Vienna, he warned against the abuse of "natural science liberties".The reason for this bizarre connection is the fact that the director of this film series, George Miller, studied medicine and also made a living as doctor at the time when he was raising funds for his first movie - Mad Max.