[The 100th anniversary of the German Society for Urology]

Abstract

Medical thought followed the general acceptance of scientific method in the mid-19th century with the foundation of specialist areas. In Vienna, urology was established very early as such a specialist area along with surgery. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, urology was still taught under the specialist areas of dermatology or surgery in universities in Berlin and other German cities. With the foundation of "modern urology" the battle for recognition as an independent specialist area began. Urology's origins are to be found in the two classical disciplines surgery and internal medicine as well their two older daughter specializations of gynecology and dermatovenerology. In September 1906, the German Society for Urology was founded, exactly 10 years after a first attempt had been made. In 1907 the "Zeitschrift für Urologie" (Journal for Urology) was founded.