[The biography of Maximilian Nitze (1848-1906) and his contribution to the urology].

Maximilian Carl Friedrich Nitze was born on the 18 of September of 1848 in Berlin the capital of Prussia. 1869 while still being a Student of the Heidelberg University the first nephrectomy of the world performed by Gustav Simon (1824-1876) woke his interest in urology. 1874 by the age of 26 he passed his state examination and obtained a doctor degree in medicine. On the 2 October of 1877 he presented the first cystoscope to the members of the Real Medical School in Dresden. Nitzes doubtless valuable contribution to urology was making real the endoscopical exploration of the genitourinary system and initializing the era of surgical treatments under direct vision. By the beginning of the XX century urology reached the status of an independent specialty by separating from surgery, dermatology/venerology, internal medicine and pathology.