Open AccessThe last dean (celebrating professor J. R. Pensky’s 160th anniversary)
Author(s) -
Ігор Юрійович Робак,
Hanna Demochko,
Volodymyr A Alkov
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
unìversum ìstorìï ta arheologìï
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2707-6385
pISSN - 2664-9950
DOI - 10.15421/26200108
Subject(s) - innovator , originality , portrait , sociology , public figure , medicine , library science , classics , history , art history , law , politics , social science , political science , computer science , qualitative research , intellectual property
The purpose of the article is to make a wide-ranging, comprehensive research of J. Pensky’s personality through the prism of medical local study. Usage of archival historical sources and local periodicals gives us the opportunity to create a complete portrait of the Kharkiv surgeon. Research methods: the study uses general scientific and specifically historical methods of scientific research such as chronological, comparative-historical and retrospective ones in addition to the purely positivist methodology commonly used by historians of Medicine. Main results. The comprehension of J. Pensky’s figure clearly demonstrates the potential of medical local history for historical and medical research. It is concluded that he was a representative of Kharkiv physicians of Polish origin, migrants who, from the ground up, achieved general recognition, including the highest imperial. It is established that he was a talented scientist and surgeon-innovator, author and co-author of original surgical ideas and technologies, inventor of special needles and sutures, which significantly contributed to the development of surgery. Moreover, he was a brilliant administrator and public figure, one of the founders of the Women's Medical Institute, director of the University Surgical Clinic, the member and the Head of the Kharkiv Medical Society, the last Dean of IKhU Medical Faculty, activist of the Kharkovian Polonia. Practical significance. The article is based on archival documents that have not been known before; data could be used in educational work with students of medical educational institutions as well as in museum work. Originality. The article is written basing on original materials with usage of archival documents and it is the first scientifically-grounded paper dedicated to the prominent person. Scientific novelty: the role of Pensky in the case of Lagovskoy is defined for the first time; such medical advances as the “suture of Pensky-Kuznetsov” and the needle invented by the surgeon are emphasized, factual errors of previous researchers are corrected, the first thorough biography of the scientist is created. Article type: historic-biographical.