Frank, Giovanni Pietro

Giovanni Pietro Frank (Rotalben, Baden March 19th 1745 – Vienna, 1821), graduated in Medicine in Heildelberg, specializing in public health. For ten years, starting in 1785, he was professor at the University of Pavia, all the while also holding positions in the Health Department of the Milan Duchy; as Health Director he also supervised hospitals and pharmacies.

Frank’s scientific production, his more practical work and his time as a professor signify an important moment in the Athenaeum life; at the time of his arrival, Medicine students in Pavia were 44 while later, as Frank recounted in an autobiography, their numbers had grown to the point that an expansion to his clinics had become necessary. A new room was set up to hold all the patients and the clinical surgery theatre was built.

Eventually he moved and lived in Vienna, Vilnius and St. Petersburg, where he became personal doctor to Tsar Alexander I and Director of the Surgical Medical Military Academy.