Abstrakt
The article focuses on the historical personage of Christian Gerhard Leopold, one of the most outstanding obstetricians and gynecologists of all times, whose 100th anniversary of death is commemorated worldwide in 2011. He was born in 1846 in Germany, studied medicine in Leipzig and acquired his gynecological and obstetrical experience under the guidance of Carl Siegmund Franz Credé, whose daughter he married.
He taught midwifery at the Women Clinic in Leipzig, and in 1883 was appointed associate professor at Leipzig University. Later, he succeeded Franz von Winckel as the director of the Royal Gynecological Infirmary in Dresden.
His main domain was the prevention of the puerperal fever. Leopold strictly preferred the external investigation of the pregnant in order to reduce the danger of infection, which is why he is chiefly remembered for so-called Leopold's grips or maneuvers (Leopold-Handgriffe) which are used to determine the lie, position, attitude and presentation of the fetus within the uterus.