Nikolai Mikhailovich Amosov
Nikolai Mikhailovich Amosov was a prominent Soviet medical scientist, heart surgeon, educator, and author, born in 1913 in Olkhovo, Russia. He graduated from the Arkhangelsk Medical Institute and gained recognition for his pioneering work in open-heart surgery, founding a heart surgery clinic in 1955. During World War II, Amosov served as the leading surgeon in a mobile field hospital, a role that inspired his later writing, including the memoir "PPG-2266: A Surgeon's War," which recounts his experiences in the war. His contributions to medical literature include influential texts such as "Mysli i serdtse" and "Modelirovanie myshleniia i psikhiki," with the latter reportedly reaching a vast readership. Amosov’s work extended beyond surgery; he also authored a science-fiction novel and engaged in discussions about physical fitness and health. Throughout his career, he received numerous honors, including the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Patriotic War. Amosov faced his own health challenges later in life, undergoing multiple surgeries, before passing away in December 2002 in Kiev, Ukraine. His legacy remains significant in the fields of medicine and literature.
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Nikolai Mikhailovich Amosov
- Born: December 6, 1913
- Birthplace: Olkhovo, Russia
- Died: December 12, 2002
- Place of death: Kiev, Ukraine
Biography
Nikolai Mikhailovich Amosov (also transliterated as Nicolai Mikhailovich Amosoff) was born in 1913 in Olkhovo, Russia. He attended and graduated from the Arkhangelsk Medical Institute. Amosov became a Soviet medical scientist, heart surgeon, educator, and author. In World War II, he was the leading surgeon in a mobile field hospital, and from 1962 to 1970, he was a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.).
In the Soviet Union, Amosov lead the way with open-heart surgery. He formed a heart surgery clinic in 1955. He was the head of the thoracic surgery clinic at one research institute and worked at another institute as the chief of the clinic for cardiovascular surgery. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War, and the Order of the Red Star.
Amosov served as a series editor, with several others, on many medical texts. Furthermore, he wrote Mysli i serdtse (1965; The Open Heart, 1967), a memoir about the average day of a Russian surgeon. Also in 1965, Amosov published Modelirovanie myshleniia i psikhiki (Modeling of Thinking and the Mind, 1967), a guide to physical fitness and better health. By some accounts, seven million copies of the book were distributed.
Amosov later published PPG-2266: A Surgeon’s War (1975), a diary of his experiences in World War II. Amosov volunteered for the front and was made the leading surgeon of a horse-drawn mobile field hospital. The book tells the story of Amosov’s strong determination, working up to eighteen hours a day in the face of such dangers as gaseous gangrene and frostbite. Their mobile hospital was constantly on the move, taking over whatever was convenient at the time—including dugouts, huts, barns and burned-out buildings.
Amosov also wrote Zapiski iz budushchego (1970; Notes from the Future), a science-fiction novel about a man with leukemia who is frozen until a cure is found. When awakened and returned to health, the man tries to decipher immortality and the advanced world around him. Amosov’s last book was nonfiction: My World Outlook, published in 2002.
A heart stimulator was implanted in Amosov in 1986. Twelve years later, an artificial mitral valve was implanted inside him and two shunts were used in his coronary arteries. He tried many exercises he had contrived to strengthen his body. However, in December of 2002, Amosov, having just turned eighty-nine years old, died of a stroke in Kiev, Ukraine.