Franz von Pitha

Who was Franz von Pitha?

Franz Freiherr von Pitha was an Austrian surgeon who was a native of Řakom, a village near Klatovy, Bohemia. He was rector of the Charles University in Prague in 1854-5.

In 1836 he received his medical doctorate at Prague, and was later a professor of surgery at Charles University in Prague, and at Josephs Academy in Vienna, where he was chair of surgery from 1857 to 1874.

During the Italian Wars of Independence, Pitha was chief of field medical services. In this role he made advancements in Austrian military hygiene, and also gained experience regarding battle-related injuries. He published a treatise titled Verletzungen und Krankheiten der Extremitäten, as a result of his war-time experiences.

Pitha was instrumental in acquiring a position for Theodor Billroth at the medical faculty in Vienna, and with Billroth he published an important textbook on surgery called Handbuch der allgemeinen und speciellen Chirurgie mit Einschluss der topographischen Anatomie, Operations- und Verbandlehre.