Nikolay Sklifosovsky was called the acting surgeon of all wars of the 19th century. At the age of 30, he first got into the Austro-Prussian War, which allowed him to gain invaluable experience, after which he volunteered for the front during all the Russian-Turkish campaigns.Participation in military actions allowed him to rise to the rank of general and made Sklifosovsky the founder of modern military field surgery. It was he who first in the world began to use local anesthesia, using cocaine during palatal surgery; he proposed to disinfect instruments and introduced the rules of asepsis and antiseptics. However, his innovative ideas not only contributed to the rescue of hundreds of wounded, but also caused ridicule from colleagues, who used to say things like, you, Sklifosovsky, are so big, but you are afraid of some small bacteria that cannot be clearly discerned. Scientific and practical interests of N.V. Sklifosovsky were not limited to abdominal interventions alone; he successfully performed operations on female genital organs, joints and was very interested in maxillofacial surgery. On Sklifosovsky’s initiative, dentistry was included in the program of university disciplines as an independent science. Despite his undeniable achievements, in life outside the walls of medical institutions, he remained a very simple and courteous person; he never refused to provide medical care to the poor, and sometimes he himself purchased medicine for such patients. Wanting to calm and cheer up the patient before the operation, he never spared his time talking with patients.