Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (1810-1881) was a prominent Russian scientist, doctor, pedagogue, public figure, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1847). He is considered to be the founder of field surgery, and was one of the first surgeons in Europe to use ether for anesthesia. He was the first surgeon to use anaesthesia in a field operation (1847), invented various kinds of surgical operations, and developed his own technique of using plaster casts to treat fractured bones. His name is one of the most widely recognized in Russian medical history. Pirogov Society was named after him. Pirogov embodied the idea of a doctor as a scientist and a humanitarian.