Eduard Bøckmann (8 March 1849 – 8 August 1927) was aNorwegian Americanophthalmologist, physician and inventor.
Eduard Bøckmann was born inØstre Toten Municipality inChristians county,Norway. He was the son of Daniel Peter Barth Bøckmann (1793–1877) and Dina Severine Dreier (1811–1885). He enrolled as a student in 1867 and graduated with thecand.med. degree in 1874. He married Anne Sophie Dorothea Gill inKaupanger in September 1875. He settled inBergen and worked there until 1886. During this period, in 1882 he took thedr.med. degree on the thesisOm den ved Trigeminusanæsthesi forekommende Hornhindelidelses Væsen og Aarsager. The ailments he described often occurred inleprosy patients. Bøckmann had spent a year from 1880 to 1881 as a physician at alepra institution. His was the first Norwegian doctoral thesis in medicine whose research had been conducted outside the proximity of theUniversity of Kristiania.[1] Also, in Bergen he involved himself in the local medical society,Bergens Medicinske Selskap. In 1884 he co-founded the journalMedicinsk Revue, which existed until 1939.[2]
In 1886, Bøckmann immigrated to the United States, reportedly seeking "grander conditions".[1] He settled inSt. Paul, Minnesota, and socialized with the many Norwegian immigrants in that area. In 1887 he invitedGerhard Armauer Hansen from Norway, who resided and researched in Bøckmann's premises.[2] He had a practice as an ophthalmologist and surgeon, and from 1898 to 1908 he was a professor of clinicalophthalmology atHamline University.[1] He presided over the localRamsey County Medical Society in 1899, and co-founded the journalSt. Paul Medical Journal in 1898. In the 1890s he invented two types ofautoclave, one of them stationary and the other a portable model for military use. He participated in theSpanish–American War in 1898,[3] leading afield hospital inJacksonville, Florida for three months. He also invented a new type ofcatgut, which came into mass production in 1901.[2]
In 1897, the library of the Ramsey County Medical Society was established when Bøckmann donated the profits from his inventions. He also guaranteed theSt. Paul Medical Journal financially.[4] In 1901 he donated a book collection to the Ramsey County Medical Society library. He decided that proceedings from the sale of the catgut business should be used for a foundation to fund the library. The sale took place long after his death in 1959, and the library was named after Bøckmann.[2] An inventory of the papers of Bøckmann is maintained at theMinnesota Historical Society. The materials, which are written in both English and Norwegian, include correspondence, certificates and awards, photographs, clippings, and authored papers.[5]
Bøckmann also led a fundraiser amongNorwegian-Americans at the University of Kristiania centennial anniversary in 1911. For this, he received anhonorary degree there. He was also proclaimed a Commander of theRoyal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, having been a Knight of the Order since 1907.[2]
Bøckmann died in 1927 after suffering a heart attack at the home of his son, Egil Boeckmann, inDellwood, Minnesota.[3]
