Maximilian Nitze

Maximilian Carl-Friedrich Nitze (September 18, 1848 – February 23, 1906) was a German urologist born in Berlin.

Along with Viennese instrument maker Joseph Leiter (1830–1892), he is credited with the invention of the modern cystoscope; a device used in diagnostics of the bladder.

Functionally, it used an electrically heated platinum wire for illumination, a cooling system of flowing ice-water, and telescopic lenses for visualization.

Invention of the incandescent light bulb by Thomas Edison allowed further improvements to the cystoscope; in 1887 Nitze constructed an apparatus that no longer needed a cooling-system.

In 1910 Hans Christian Jacobaeus published an account of two cases in which he performed thoracoscopic explorations of the pleural cavity.