Celebrated and undisputed, Professor Yaşargil transformed neurosurgery to the advanced Microneurosurgical realm that saved and will save millions of lives. He was deservedly named “Neurosurgeon of the Century: 1950-2000”.

Early Life and Education

Professor M. Gazi Yaşargil was born in 1925 in Lice, Turkey. He completed high school in Ankara, Turkey, and studied medicine at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany, before completing his medical doctor degree at the University of Basel, Switzerland, in September 1949.

Following his rotation program (1950 to 1952), he began his neurosurgery residency at the University of Zurich under the guidance of Professor Hugo Krayenbühl.

M. Gazi Yaşargil: Named "Man of the Century" 1950-1999.

Pioneering the advanced Microneurosurgical realm.

The Birth of Microneurosurgery

Between 1953 and 1993, Professor Yaşargil revolutionized the field. During his first 12 years of practice, he developed percutaneous carotid, vertebral, and orbital angiography, performing procedures on more than 8,000 patients.

In 1967, after intensive animal laboratory research at the University of Vermont, he performed the first human cerebral bypass surgery. By recognizing the arrangement of cranio-spinal cisterns, he developed transcisternal approaches, allowing for pure lesionectomies in each location of the brain.

The Microneurosurgery Magnum Opus

A new era of neurosurgery emerged through his dedication, captured in eight volumes.

Global Legacy

From November 1994 to July 2013, Professor Yaşargil was active at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He later returned to Turkey as Professor of Neurosurgery at Yeditepe University Hospital in Istanbul.

He continued teaching, seeing patients, and preparing publications, leaving an indelible mark on the medical world and the generations of surgeons he trained.

Teaching and analyzing the intricate architecture of the brain.