Christian Johann Berger

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Christian Johann Berger (born August 14, 1724 in Vienna , † April 2, 1789 in Kiel ) was professor of medicine, surgery and midwifery.

Working in Copenhagen

Christian Johann Berger was a son of Henrik Berger († 1728) and his wife Elisabeth Marie, née Buschen. The father worked as a caretaker at the court of the envoy Christian August von Berkentin in Vienna, where Christian Johann Berger was born on August 14, 1724. He attended grammar schools in Preßburg and Berlin and began studying medicine there in 1739. From 1741 to 1743 he continued his studies at the University of Copenhagen . Before completing his studies, he traveled for three years in order to further his education, including to Strasbourg , where he stayed longer. Here he met the director of the maternity hospital, Johann Jacob Fried . Fried was the first clinical teacher to teach obstetrics there and left a lasting mark on Berger.

At the maternity hospital in Strasbourg, which had existed in Paris since 1727 based on a leading role model in this field , from 1737 both midwives and medical students received instruction in obstetrics. Berger received extensive funding from Johann Jacob Fried. In 1746 he returned to the University of Copenhagen and finished his studies. In 1748 he passed the anatomical exam and in 1750 the surgical exam.

Berger then settled in the Danish capital as an obstetrician with his own practice and quickly gained a reputation as a teacher and practitioner. From 1755 he looked after the orphanage as a doctor. In 1758 he was appointed professor of anatomy at the Royal Danish Academy of Art . In 1759 he received his doctorate on the normal course of childbirth, joined the midwifery commission and worked as a municipal obstetrician for the city of Copenhagen. In 1760 he entered the Collegium Medicum and a year later received a call from Copenhagen University as professor of medicine and obstetrics. With this he also took over the position of director of the maternity facility of the Friedrich Hospital belonging to the university. He was the first clinical teacher in Denmark to establish the field of obstetrics. Berger used forceps for the births he supervised , with which he significantly reduced the number of stillbirths. He was the first physician to correctly describe the natural birth process with an infant in the position of the skull , which until then had largely been misrepresented.

On December 3, 1760 he married Laurentia Thestrup (* 1740), who was the daughter of the Higher Regional Court Assessor Christian Thestrup (1689-1750) and his wife Karen, née Fork (1709-1747). She had a sister who, at Berger's intercession at the Danish court, married Paul Egede . Berger's wife died almost four years after the wedding on August 13, 1764.

In 1768 he was in charge of the Danish Queen Caroline Mathilde and thus gained a certain political influence. He was a full member of the Scientific Society and from 1768 an honorary member of the Art Academy. He rose to Christian VII's personal physician and was allowed to take part in the care of Crown Prince Friedrich . He also sat on the directorates of the educational institution, the nursing home and, from 1770, the Friedrich Hospital.

Berger was on friendly terms with Johann Friedrich Struensee , who was overthrown and executed in 1772. Since he was considered a supposed conspirator of Struensee, Berger was imprisoned. A subsequent trial resulted in an acquittal on all major charges. Nevertheless, his opponents prevented a return to previous positions.

Work in Aalborg and Kiel

Berger had to leave Copenhagen and only received an annual pension of 300, from 1773 600 Riksdaler . He moved to Aalborg . Living in exile in Aalborg, Berger made use of his contacts with his brother-in-law Paul Egede. After he had auditioned at Ove Høegh-Guldberg , who had taken over the government after Struensee's fall, Berger was given a professorship for medicine, surgery and obstetrics at the University of Kiel in 1774 . The conditions at Kiel University, however, by no means corresponded to Berger's requirements, who was the most important of five professors in medicine: the level of the medical faculty was considered low, clinical facilities, a midwifery school or a building did not exist. In 1776 Berger was appointed to the budget and in 1778/79 to the rector. Due to the unsatisfactory situation at the faculty, he retired in 1779. He left his library and 4,000 riksdalers to the university.

Afterwards Berger practiced in a practice in Vienna, which was very popular. After a stroke in 1787, he traveled through Germany and Switzerland to recover in 1788 without his condition improving. He died on April 2, 1789, from another stroke.

Due to the scandal surrounding Johann Friedrich Struensee, Berger did not receive any appreciation for his services as the founder of scientific obstetrics and the first university professor of this discipline in Denmark. These services were later awarded primarily to his students Mathias Saxtorph and J. Bang.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Berger, Johann Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION University professor, professor of medicine, surgery and midwifery
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1724
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH April 2, 1789
Place of death Kiel