Karl Gustav Himly

Who was Karl Gustav Himly?

Karl Gustav Himly was a German surgeon and ophthalmologist from Braunschweig.

He studied medicine at the University of Würzburg under Karl Kaspar von Siebold, and at the University of Göttingen with August Gottlieb Richter. In 1795 he became a professor at the hospital in Braunschweig, and in 1801 succeeded Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland as professor of medicine at the hospital in Jena.

From 1803 he was a professor of surgery at the University of Göttingen, where he worked with Konrad Johann Martin Langenbeck, and his former teacher, August Richter. In 1809, Himly was instrumental in establishing a new hospital in Göttingen. Among his better known students were Karl Friedrich Heusinger, Christian Georg Theodor Ruete and Friedrich August von Ammon.

Himly was a pioneer in the field of ophthalmology, and is credited for introducing the scientific application of mydriatics into European medicine. In addition, he performed early investigations concerning the possibilities of corneal grafting. In 1802, with Johann Adam Schmidt, he began publication of Ophthalmologische Bibliothek, a journal that became the first magazine dedicated to ophthalmic medicine in Germany. From 1809 until 1814, he published Journal für praktische Heilkunde with Christoph Hufeland.