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Demonstration of Cocaine as Local Anesthetic

When: 1884
Where: Medical Community
Part of: Karl Koller publicizes local anesthesia at Heidelberg

Koller demonstrated cocaine's tissue-numbing capabilities to the medical community in 1884, establishing it as a local anesthetic for eye surgery.

While Sigmund Freud knew cocaine could kill pain, Koller recognized its specific ability to numb tissue. In 1884, he demonstrated this potential to the medical community, introducing cocaine as a local anesthetic for eye surgery.

Sources

Karl Koller (ophthalmologist) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.