Nobel laureate Werner Otto Theodor Forßmann

The Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Werner Otto Theodor Forßmann, André Frédéric Cournand and Dickinson W. Richards in 1956 for their discoveries in relation to cardiac catheterization and pathological changes in the circulatory system.

In 1929, Werner Forßmann (1904-1979), who was then an intern at the Auguste Victoria Clinic (today known as the Werner Forßmann Hospital) in Eberswalde near Berlin, carried out the first cardiac catheterization by way of an experiment on himself. His contributions to therapeutic heart surgery were finally recognized in 1954 when he was awarded the Leibniz Medal by the German Academy of Sciences. In further recognition of his work, he was also awarded the hugely significant Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with star and shoulder band.

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz named Werner Forßmann as an honorary professor in 1956.