PHYSICIANS from Czechia

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Czech Physicians of all time. This list of famous Czech Physicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Czech Physicians.

1. Carl von Rokitansky (1804 - 1878)

With an HPI of 66.66, Carl von Rokitansky is the most famous Czech Physician.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages on wikipedia.

Baron Carl von Rokitansky (German: Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, Czech: Karel Rokytanský; 19 February 1804 – 23 July 1878) was a Czech-born Austrian physician, pathologist, humanist philosopher and liberal politician, founder of the Viennese School of Medicine of the 19th century. He was the founder of science-based diagnostics, connecting clinical with pathological results in a feedback loop that is standard practice today but was daring in Rokitansky's day.

2. Eduard Bloch (1872 - 1945)

With an HPI of 65.54, Eduard Bloch is the 2nd most famous Czech Physician.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Eduard Bloch (30 January 1872 – 1 June 1945) was an Austrian physician practicing in Linz. Born to a Jewish family of Czechoslovak origin, Bloch was the family doctor of Adolf Hitler and his family until 1907. Bloch oversaw the treatment of Hitler's mother, Klara, when she was dying of breast cancer, charging the family very little, or none, for her treatment. Following the German annexation of Austria in 1938, Hitler described him as a Edeljude – a noble Jew, and bestowed him Geheime Staatspolizei protection in the midst of Kristallnacht and the escalation of anti-Jewish sentiment in Germany. Hitler allowed Bloch to emigrate to the United States, where he lived until his death in 1945, succumbing to stomach cancer.

3. Joseph Škoda (1805 - 1881)

With an HPI of 62.85, Joseph Škoda is the 3rd most famous Czech Physician.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Joseph Škoda (Czech: Josef Škoda; 10 December 1805 – 13 June 1881) was a Czech-born Austrian physician, medical professor and dermatologist. Together with Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, he was the founder of the Modern Medical School of Vienna.

4. Tomáš Špidlík (1919 - 2010)

With an HPI of 62.75, Tomáš Špidlík is the 4th most famous Czech Physician.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Tomáš Josef Špidlík, S.J. (17 December 1919 – 16 April 2010) was a Czech Catholic prelate and theologian. Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal in 2003. He was a member of the Jesuits.

5. Vincenz Priessnitz (1799 - 1851)

With an HPI of 62.67, Vincenz Priessnitz is the 5th most famous Czech Physician.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Vincenz Priessnitz, also written Prießnitz (sometimes in German Vinzenz, in English Vincent, in Czech Vincenc; 4 October 1799 – 26 November 1851) was an Austrian hydrotherapist. Originally a peasant farmer in Austrian Silesia, he is generally considered the founder of hydrotherapy, an alternative medical treatment. Priessnitz stressed remedies such as vegetarian food, air, exercise, rest, water, and traditional medicine. He is thus also credited with laying the foundations of what became known as Nature Cure, although it has been noted that his main focus was on hydrotherapeutic techniques. The use of cold water as a curative is recorded in the works of Hippocrates and Galen, and techniques such as spas, bathing, and drinking were used by various physicians in Europe and the US through to the 18th century. The practice was becoming less prevalent entering the 19th century however, until Priessnitz revived the technique after having major success applying it on patients in his spa in Gräfenberg (now Lázně Jeseník). Priessnitz's name first became widely known in the English-speaking world through the publications and lecture tours of Captain R. T. Claridge in 1842 and 1843, after he had stayed at Gräfenberg in 1841. However, Priessnitz was already a household name on the European continent, where Richard Metcalfe, in his 1898 biography, stated: "there are hundreds of establishments where the water-cure is carried out on the principles laid down by Priessnitz". Indeed, Priessnitz's fame became so widespread that his death was reported as far away as New Zealand.

6. Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra (1816 - 1880)

With an HPI of 59.17, Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra is the 6th most famous Czech Physician.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Ferdinand Karl Franz Schwarzmann, Ritter von Hebra (7 September 1816 – 5 August 1880) was an Austrian physician and dermatologist known as the founder of the New Vienna School of Dermatology, an important group of physicians who established the foundations of modern dermatology.

7. Julius Vincenz von Krombholz (1782 - 1843)

With an HPI of 58.15, Julius Vincenz von Krombholz is the 7th most famous Czech Physician.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Julius Vincenz von Krombholz (19 December 1782 – 1 November 1843) was a physician and mycologist born in Oberpolitz (today Horní Police, Czech Republic), northern Bohemia. He studied medicine at the University of Prague, receiving his doctorate in 1814. In 1828 he was appointed professor of special pathology and therapy. At Prague, he used his influence to help the penniless August Carl Joseph Corda (1809–1849) get admitted to the university. In 1831 he was named rector of the university.

8. Friedrich von Berchtold (1781 - 1876)

With an HPI of 57.99, Friedrich von Berchtold is the 8th most famous Czech Physician.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Count Friedrich Carl Eugen Vsemir von Berchtold, baron von Ungarschitz (Czech: Bedřich Karel Eugen Všemír Berchtold hrabě z Uherčic; 25 October 1781 – 3 April 1876), was a German-speaking Bohemian physician and botanist of Austrian descent.

9. Jan Janský (1873 - 1921)

With an HPI of 57.46, Jan Janský is the 9th most famous Czech Physician.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Jan Janský (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjan ˈjanskiː]; 3 April 1873 – 8 September 1921) was a Czech serologist, neurologist and psychiatrist. He is credited with the classification of blood into four types (I, II, III, IV).

10. Arnold Pick (1851 - 1924)

With an HPI of 56.74, Arnold Pick is the 10th most famous Czech Physician.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Arnold Pick (20 July 1851 – 4 April 1924) was a Czech-German psychiatrist. He is known for first describing clinical features of frontotemporal dementia between 1892 and 1906. The disorder he described was given the name Pick's disease in 1922. This term is now reserved for the behavioral variant of frontal temporal dementia that shows the presence of the characteristic Pick bodies and Pick cells, which were first described by Alois Alzheimer in 1911. He was the first to name reduplicative paramnesia. He was the second to use the term dementia praecox (in 1891). Pick trained in Berlin with Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal and later worked at the infamous asylum of Wehnen. Pick headed the Prague neuropathological school and one of the school's members was Oskar Fischer. This school was one of the two neuropathological schools (the other one was in Munich where Alois Alzheimer worked) in Europe at the time that framed Alzheimer disease through empirical discoveries.