Maximilian Nitze

Maximilian Nitze

Maximilian Carl-Friedrich Nitze (September 18, 1848 - February 23, 1906) was a German urologist born in Berlin.

He studied medicine at the Universities of Heidelberg, Würzburg and Leipzig. In 1874 he earned his doctorate, and subsequently became a medical assistant at the city hospital in Dresden. During the 1880s, Nitze founded a private urology hospital in Berlin. He later became a professor of urology at the University of Berlin.

Nitze specialized in research of kidney disorders and other urological problems. Along with Viennese instrument maker Joseph Leiter (1830–1892), he is credited with the invention of the modern cystoscope; a device used in diagnostics of the bladder. The Nitze-Leiter cystoscope was first publicly demonstrated in 1879. Functionally, it used an electrically heated platinum wire for illumination, a cooling system of flowing ice-water, and telescopic lenses for visualization. Invention of the incandescent light bulb by Thomas Edison allowed further improvements to the cystoscope; in 1887 Nitze constructed an apparatus that no longer needed a cooling-system.

Nitze is also credited with producing the first endoscopic photographs. Soon after Nitze's death in 1906, the cystoscope was used to perform the first thoracoscopy. In 1901 the first endoscope-guided laparoscopy of a dog was performed by German physician Georg Kelling (1866-1945). Today the Maximilian Nitze Medal is awarded by the German Society of Urology for special contributions in the field of urology.