He studied medicine in
Prague, earning his degree in
obstetrics in 1799 and a doctorate in surgery in 1800. Afterwards he worked briefly in
Vienna and
Paris, and later taught classes at the
Lyceum in Olomouc. From 1803 to 1810 he was a professor of surgery at the
University of Kraków, where he established a local surgical clinic. In 1810 he was named chief surgeon at the
Allgemeines Krankenhaus in Vienna. In 1815 he became a member of the Prussian military as a physician. The following year he became director of the new surgical/
ophthalmological clinic at the
Charité, as well as adjunct professor at the medical-surgical military academy in Berlin. In 1822 he was awarded with the military title of
Generalstabsarzt (Surgeon General), and in 1824 became a full professor at the
University of Berlin. In 1834, he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1837 he was appointed director of surgical and
pharmaceutical studies at the university. In 1816 he became editor of the "
Magazins für die gesammte Heilkunde". He died in 1840 on his estate Schloss Kleutsch [today: Kluczowa] near
Ząbkowice Śląskie in Silesia, Prussia. ==Associated eponym==