Hermann Askan Demme

Who is Hermann Askan Demme?

Hermann Askan Demme was a German-Swiss physician.

Demme was the son of Hermann Gottfried, Generalsuperintendent of Sachsen-Altenburg. At first, he studied philosophy and theology in Jena and Berlin. 1822 he entered the Jenaischen Burschenschaft. He finished his studies 1830 and became assistant to Johann Lukas Schönlein. 1831 he was a military doctor in Warschau, 1832 he visited the United States of America.

In 1833, Demme married Marie Lucie Elisabeth Auguste Diruf from Heidelberg. They had one daughtor and three sons. In the same year, he became professor for anatomy at the University of Zurich and 1834 he became professor at the University of Bern. 1847 he was the first in the German-speaking world to perform surgery using ether for anesthesia.