Gustav Adolf Michaelis was a German obstetrician who was a native of Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

. He studied medicine in Göttingen

Göttingen

Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

 under surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

 Konrad Johann Martin Langenbeck

Konrad Johann Martin Langenbeck

Konrad Johann Martin Langenbeck was a German surgeon, ophthalmologist and anatomist who was a native of Horneburg....

 (1776-1851) and obstetrician Friedrich Benjamin Osiander

Friedrich Benjamin Osiander

Friedrich Benjamin Osiander , obstetrician at Göttingen, inventor of uterine traction forceps. Father to Johann Friedrich Osiander-References:* Early American Manual Therapy, accessed 30 May 2008)...

 (1759-1822), and later was director of the Obstetric Hospital and the School of Midwifery at Kiel. He was the father of archaeologist Adolf Michaelis

Adolf Michaelis

Adolf Michaelis was a German classical scholar, a professor of art history at the University of Strasbourg from 1872, who helped establish the connoisseurship of Ancient Greek sculpture and Roman sculpture on their modern footing...

 (1835-1910).

Michaelis was a pioneer of scientific obstetrics who is remembered for his work in pelvimetry

Pelvimetry

Pelvimetry is the assessment of the female pelvis in relation to the birth of a baby. Traditional obstetrical services relied heavily on pelvimetry in the conduct of delivery in order to decide if natural or operative vaginal delivery was possible or if and when to use a cesarean...

. He performed extensive research involving difficulties associated with a "narrow pelvis" and its relationship to childbirth

Childbirth

Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...

, which he documented in a treatise called Das enge Becken. After being informed of Ignaz Semmelweis

Ignaz Semmelweis

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis was a Hungarian physician now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the "savior of mothers", Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics...

' theory of prophylaxis for prevention of puerperal fever

Puerperal fever

Puerperal fever or childbed fever, is a bacterial infection contracted by women during childbirth or miscarriage. It can develop into puerperal sepsis, which is a serious form of septicaemia. If untreated, it is often fatal....

, Michaelis was one of the first obstetricians to adopt the practice of compulsory chlorine

Chlorine

Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...

 handwashing. Afterwards, he became severely depressed over the number of women (including a beloved cousin) who had died from puerperal fever due to unsanitary obstetrical practices, and on August 8, 1848, Michaelis committed suicide in Lehrte

Lehrte

Lehrte is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 17 km east of Hanover. Lehrte is a picturesque town with a population of 45,000 and a modern infrastructure, combined with local culture and an interesting history.-History:The first documented...

, Germany.

After his death, his position at Kiel was replaced by Carl Conrad Theodor Litzmann

Carl Conrad Theodor Litzmann

Carl Conrad Theodor Litzmann was a German obstetrician and gynecologist born in Gadebusch, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern....

 (1815-1890). Today, the "Michaelis Midwifery School" at the University of Kiel

University of Kiel

The University of Kiel is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 23,000 students today...

 is named in his honor.

The Rhombus of Michaelis

Rhombus of Michaelis

The Rhombus of Michaelis is a rhombus-shaped contour that is sometimes visible on the lower human back...

, named after him, is a contour in the coccyx

Coccyx

The coccyx , commonly referred to as the tailbone, is the final segment of the vertebral column. Comprising three to five separate or fused vertebrae below the sacrum, it is attached to the sacrum by a fibrocartilaginous joint, the sacrococcygeal symphysis, which permits limited movement between...

/sacrum

Sacrum

In vertebrate anatomy the sacrum is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine and at the upper and back part of the pelvic cavity, where it is inserted like a wedge between the two hip bones. Its upper part connects with the last lumbar vertebra, and bottom part with the coccyx...

 region that is rhombus

Rhombus

In Euclidean geometry, a rhombus or rhomb is a convex quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. The rhombus is often called a diamond, after the diamonds suit in playing cards, or a lozenge, though the latter sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 45° angle.Every...

-shaped. Sometimes referred to as the "quadrilateral

Quadrilateral

In Euclidean plane geometry, a quadrilateral is a polygon with four sides and four vertices or corners. Sometimes, the term quadrangle is used, by analogy with triangle, and sometimes tetragon for consistency with pentagon , hexagon and so on...

of Michaelis".