Charles Frederick Wiesenthal

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Charles Frederick Wiesenthal , born as Karl Friedrich Wiesenthal (* 1726 ; † June 1, 1789 ), was a doctor and inventor from Germany.

Life

Wiesenthal was born in the Mark Brandenburg as the son of the barber and surgeon Johann Mattheus Wiesenthal from Pasewalk in Pomerania , a combination of professions that was not unusual at the time. In 1747 he married Christina Regina Talcho, the daughter of a Berlin brewer. They had three daughters and a son (Andrew, * 1768).

In the early 1740s he studied anatomy and surgery under his father and assisted the staff of the Prussian military surgery. The fact that he was registered as a doctor in Strasbourg seems to prove his education and qualifications, although no record of his medical degree appears to have been found so far.

In 1755 he received the patent for the first known mechanical sewing device, a preliminary stage of the sewing machine . At the time of its invention, Wiesenthal was still in England. For his invention of a double-pointed needle with an eye on one end, he received British patent no. 701 (1755).

From 1755 until his death in 1789, he lived in Baltimore , USA. He earned a good reputation as a doctor in his new home: he was naturalized in the US in 1771. He had a brick house and office built in Baltimore. Behind his residency, in addition to his practice, he ran a "school" for medicine and anatomy. He believed in the benefits of the smallpox vaccination early on and supported the work of Dr. Henry Stevens, who founded a Baltimore hospital for "American Style Vaccinations". In addition, he also campaigned to an extraordinary extent for the city, which grew rapidly between 1755 and 1770.

He made particular merits with his commitment to various improvements in medical troop supply during the American Revolution , which led to the separation of the Thirteen Colonies from the British Empire and the independence of the United States of America . He took on many tasks during the revolution. In January 1775 he was appointed a member of the Baltimore Observatory, and later that year became director of saltpetre manufacture for Baltimore County. He later became an examiner for medical service and supplier candidates and, on March 2, 1776, a surgeon for the First Maryland Battalion. He was under medical supervision of the Maryland forces and the Marines of the Ship Defense.

Wiesenthal was committed to the immigrants of German origin in his city and successfully initiated the foundation of the "German Society of Maryland".

Postscript

In 1830 the French Barthélemy Thimonnier built the first actual sewing machine.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Eugene F. Cardell: Wiesenthal, Charles Frederick In: Howard Atwood Kelly , Walter Lincoln Burrage: Dictionary of American Medical Biography: Lives of Eminent Physicians of the United States and Canada, from the Earliest Times. Appleton, New York 1928.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f William Trammell Snyder: Charles Frederick Wiesenthal (1726-1789). An Appraisal of the Medical Pioneer of Baltimore. (English). Retrieved May 30, 2020.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wiesenthal, Charles Frederick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wiesenthal, Karl Friedrich (birth name); Wiesenthal, Charles Fredrick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH 1726
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 1789