Yakov O. Sapolovich (1760–1831), professor at the Department of Theoretical and Practical Surgery of the Military Medical Academy: on the 265th anniversary of his birth

The paper examines the life and career of a Russian researcher and surgeon Professor Yakov O. Sapolovich, State Councilor, Doctor of Medicine. Yakov O. Sapolovich graduated from the School of Medicine at the St. Petersburg Hospital for Land Forces and remained there as a physician and prosector. After several years of surgical practice, he was appointed chief operator of the Hospitals for Land and Naval Forces. He was awarded a Doctor of Medicine degree for his substantial contributions to medicine and surgery, and was made a member of the Medical College shortly thereafter. Yakov O. Sapolovich became a professor of surgery at the hospitals’ School of Medicine and Surgery, where he taught theoretical and practical surgery. As a teacher, he was among the first in Russia to begin using percussion and auscultation with a stethoscope. After the School of Medicine and Surgery was turned into the Academy of Medicine and Surgery, Sapolovich, a member of the Medical College, had to resign his professor position at the Department of Theoretical and Practical Surgery. This position was turned up to Professor Ivan F. Bush of the Kalinkin Institute of Medicine and Surgery. For 33 years, Sapolovich led the St. Petersburg Instrumental and Surgical Plant, which was renamed the Krasnogvardeets Plant during the Soviet era. Yakov O. Sapolovich wrote “Brief Instructions on the Treatment of Diseases with Simple Remedies,” which described the conditions that surgeons treat. This was a successful book with eight editions. In 1814, Sapolovich became one of the first honorary members of the St. Petersburg Academy of Medicine and Surgery. The scientific, educational, and practical work of this gifted Russian researcher and surgeon of the 18th and 19th centuries demonstrates his substantial contribution to the establishment and development of surgery in Russia.