Surgeon Nikolay Burdenko, Timed to the 150th Anniversary of His Birth

Obverse

a relief image of the National Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation, above it along the rim the inscription in a semicircle ‘РОССИЙСКАЯ ФЕДЕРАЦИЯ’ (RUSSIAN FEDERATION) framed with paired diamonds on both sides, under the coat of arms on the left the chemical symbol and fineness of the metal and on the right the fine metal content and the mint mark, at the bottom centre in three lines the inscription ‘БАНК РОССИИ’ (BANK OF RUSSIA), the coin denomination ‘2 РУБЛЯ’ (2 RUBLES), and the year of issue ‘2026 г.’ (2026).

Reverse

a relief portrait of Nikolay Burdenko standing at a table with medical instruments against the background of a military hospital operating theatre, laser treated for matte finishing, and the inscription ‘Н.Н. БУРДЕНКО’ (N.N. BURDENKO) below in a matted section and the years of his birth and death ‘1876’ and ‘1946’ in two lines on the left.

Authors

Designers: E.V. Kramskaya (obverse), E.V. Davydova (reverse).
Sculptors: A.A. Dolgopolova (obverse), E.V. Davydova (reverse).
Mint: Saint Petersburg Mint (СПМД).
Edge: 195 corrugations.

Discover more

Nikolay Nilovich Burdenko (1876–1946) was a military surgeon, the founder of Russian neurosurgery, and the first president of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR.

Burdenko graduated from the Penza theological seminary, but in 1897, having become fascinated by surgery, he entered the Faculty of Medicine of the Tomsk Imperial University. He was a talented student, but he was expelled from the university for participating in anti-monarchist protests. He resumed studies at the Imperial University of Yuryev (now the University of Tartu) upon request of a large number of professors.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Burdenko served in a field ambulance detachment as an assistant physician, performing various medical duties on the front-line. He was awarded the Cross of St. George for valour. By the time of submitting his graduate thesis in 1906, Burdenko had already won recognition from the scientific medical community for his scientific and practical activity.

With the start of the World War I in 1914, Doctor of Medicine Burdenko volunteered for the front-line and carried out tremendous work to reduce the number of deaths and amputations caused by combat wounds.

From 1923, Burdenko was a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Moscow State University (in 1930, this Faculty was transformed into the 1st Moscow Medical Institute, now it is known as Sechenov University), where he headed the faculty’s surgical clinic until the end of his life, which now bears his name. In 1929, Burdenko was appointed director of the neurosurgical clinic at the X-ray Institute under the People’s Commissariat for Health that became the basis for the world’s first Central Neurosurgical Institute founded in 1932 (known today as N. N. Burdenko National Scientific and Practical Centre for Neurosurgery).

During the Great Patriotic War, he was the Main Surgeon of the Red Army. He personally performed thousands of surgeries in close proximity to the front-line. Burdenko was shell-shocked, which led to a stroke, and became almost deaf but continued to carry out his practical and research activities. In 1943, he was the first medical professional awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labour. In 1944, he was promoted to Colonel General of the Medical Service.

Burdenko is an author of more than 300 research papers. He pursued research in the field of oncology of the central and autonomic nervous systems, disorders of cerebral circulation, etc. For the first time in global medical practice, he proposed treating purulent complications after skull and brain injuries by injecting a white streptocide solution into the carotid artery. Burdenko’s multiple innovations and discoveries also include upper spinal cord surgery.

Sources: https://history.ru, https://tass.ru