Kocher, Emil Theodor << KOH kuhr, AY mihl TAY oh `DOHR` >> (1841-1917), a Swiss surgeon, is best remembered for his pioneering work on the thyroid gland. In 1878, he performed, for the first time, an operation for the removal of a goiter (enlarged thyroid gland). Kocher discovered that after the gland had been removed, patients developed symptoms resembling congenital hypothyroidism, a condition in which babies are born with underdeveloped brains and poorly formed skeletons. His findings helped confirm the role of the thyroid in congenital hypothyroidism. Kocher received the 1909 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his work on the physiology, pathology, and surgery of the thyroid gland.
Kocher was born in Bern on Aug. 25, 1841. He was a professor of surgery at the University of Bern from the age of 31 until his death on July 27, 1917.
