Kocher, Emil Theodor

Kocher, Emil Theodor ā´mĭl tā´ōdôr kôkh´ər [key], 1841–1917, Swiss surgeon, M.D. Univ. of Bern, 1865. He was professor of surgery at Bern (1872–1911). For his work on the physiology, pathology, and surgery of the thyroid gland—which he was the first (1876) to excise in cases of goiter—he received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Medicine. He was a skilled surgeon and a pioneer in the application of asepsis. His works include a textbook on operative surgery (1894).

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