Professor Petr Ivanovich Diakonov (1855–1908) (on the 170th anniversary of his birth)

An outstanding surgeon, scientist and teacher, one of the pioneers of thoracic surgery in Russia, the creator of a major scientific school of surgeons and anatomists, the founder (together with N. V. Sklifosovsky) and editor of the first surgical journal in Moscow (“Surgical Chronicle”), a public figure in the field of healthcare, Professor Petr Ivanov ich Diakonov was born in Orel on June 2 (14, new style), 1855, into the family of lawyer Ivan Vasilevich Diakonov. In 1870, Petr graduated from 7 classes of the Oryol boys’ gymnasium and in 1871 entered the Imperial Medical and Surgical Academy. In the 4th and 5th years, he was arrested twice and imprisoned for active participation in the revolutionary democratic movement, and shortly before completing his studies, he was sent into exile to Veliky Ustyug. In 1877, he was mobilized into the army and participated in the Russo-Turkish War. In 1878, he received permission to complete his studies at the Medical and Surgical Academy and in May 1879 received a doctor’s diploma. He worked as a zemstvo doctor in the Oryol province, then as a resident doctor at the provincial hospital. In 1887, Professor A. A. Bobrov invited Petr Ivanovich to the position of assistant to the prosector of the Department of Operative Surgery and Topographic Anatomy at Moscow University. In 1888, P. I. Diakonov defended his doctoral dissertation «Statistics of blindness and some data on the etiology of blindness among the Russian population». In 1893, he was elected head of the Department of Operative Surgery and Topographic Anatomy, and in 1901, he headed the Department and Clinic of Hospital Surgery at Moscow University and in 1903 received the title of ordinary professor. Scientific and practical works published under the supervision of P. I. Diakonov and characterizing his school cover many sections of surgery. The topics devoted to the study and treatment of external abdominal hernias, surgical treatment of cholelithiasis, ma lignant neoplasms of various localizations, diseases of the esophagus, hemorrhoids, bone and joint tuberculosis, issues of plastic surgery and pediatric surgery were developed in particular detail. P. I. Diakonov was the author and co-author of 67 scientific and practical works, including such fundamental works as the manual «Russian Surgery», «General Operative Surgery», «Diseases of the Neck», «Restoration of a Destroyed Nose», «A Brief Guide to the Preparation of Preparations on Topographic Anatomy», «Lectures on Topographic Anatomy and Operative Surgery». Among Petr Ivanovich’s students, 23 defended their doctoral dissertations. Professor P. I. Diakonov died on December 21, 1908 (old style) at the age of 53 in Moscow and was buried at the Vagankovskoe Cemetery.