Camillus Nyrop

Camillus Nyrop (18 February 1811 - 24 December 1883) was a Danish instrumentmaker and bandagist. He was the founder of Camillus Nyrops Etablissement, Denmark's first manufacturer of surgical instruments and artificial limbs.

Early life and education Nyrop was born on 18 February 1811 in Riserup on Falster, the son of provost Christopher Ntrop (1752–1831) and his second wife Cathrine Elisabeth Magdalene Heilmann (1765–1842). He was an apprentice in court turner J. G. Schwartz's workshop in 1816–22. He had already at this point started to take an interest in surgical instruments. In 1833, he was articled to J. H. Hüttemeier to improve his knowledge of metalwork while at the same time studying under Hans Christian Ørsted at the College of Advanced Technology. After that, he went abroad to further his study of surgical instruments in Berlin and Vienna before arriving in Paris in 1836, where he became an apprentice to Joseph-Frédéric-Benoît Charrière and collaborated with leading French surgeons.

Career

Back in Copenhagen in 1838, he immediately started his own production of surgical instruments. His qualifications as an instrumentmaker and bandagist was soon noticed by the city's medical doctors and surgeons.

Nyrop was aboard member of Industriforeningen from 1843. During the First Schleswig War, 1848–49, he devoted himself to the development of better artificial limbs for the many injured soldiers who returned from the war. Several of his inventions won him international acclaim. Towards the end of his career he increasingly focused on simplifying his surgical armamentarium.

His company, Camillus Nyrops Etablissement, was continued by two of his sons, Johan Ernst Nyrop (1850–1931) and Hans Louis Nyrop (1861–1931). It was converted into a limited company (aktieselskab) in 1924 and merged with Hjalmar Maag A/S. His other sons were the industrial historian Camillus Nyrop (1843–1918) and the filologist Kristoffer Nyrop.

Johan Ernst Nyrop's son was the founder of the Niro Atomizer spray dryer.