Dissection
Human dissections were carried out by the Greek physicians Herophilus of Chalcedon and Erasistratus of Chios in the early part of the third century BC. During this period, the first exploration into full human anatomy was performed rather than a base knowledge gained from 'problem-solution' delving. While there was a deep taboo in Greek culture concerning human dissection, there was at the time a strong push by the Ptolemaic government to build Alexandria into a hub of scientific study. For a time, Roman law forbade dissection and autopsy of the human body, so physicians had to use other cadavers. Galen, for example, dissected the Barbary macaque and other primates, assuming their anatomy was basically the same as that of humans.
Gustav Simon (surgeon)
Simon demonstrated that the excretion process remains functional in animals with one healthy kidney, and on 2 August 1869 performed the first successful nephrectomy on a human patient.
In 1872 with Bernhard von Langenbeck (1810-1887) and Richard von Volkmann (1830-1889), he founded the German Society of Surgery.