In life, Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov was one of the most brilliant medical minds in human history, pioneering practices and procedures that are still used today. In death, he retained his legendary status as a medical genius, but he also gained attention for becoming the world’s oldest modern mummy.
Born in 1810, in Russia, Pirogov spent most of his life various kinds of surgical operations, developing his own technique of using plaster casts on broken bones, and he was the first to use ether anesthesia in a field hospital, saving thousands of lives in the process. He is widely regarded as one of Russia’s greatest physicians and a father of modern surgery. But, having been embalmed hours after his death, in 1881, Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov is also known as the oldest modern mummy in the world, as well as one of the best preserved ones.
