The authors discuss the contribution of the outstanding scientist, surgeon, health care organizer and academician Lev K. Bogush in development of original surgeries that saved ten thousands of patients with respiratory diseases. The main periods of phthisiatric surgery are described (no antibacterial drugs and limited technical possibilities of surgical treatment, defining the place of surgery after emergence of specific effective drug treatment, introduction of resection options, drug-resistant forms of disease in population). In recent years, phthisiatric surgery is experiencing «second» birth, when it is increasingly used for destructive forms of disease. The authors emphasize the foresight of the scientist. He not only first performed many surgeries for pulmonary tuberculosis, but also created a whole direction in scientific and clinical development. The last one was later applied in other areas of thoracic surgery and oncology. Today, developments of academician Bogush L.K. are again in demand at the new stage of development of surgical science. This is especially clear in reconstructive tracheobronchial surgery, as well as surgical treatment of various complications after lung surgeries. Active surgical activity of Bogush L.K. fell on the period of two wars (the Finnish Company and the Great Patriotic War). He took active part in these conflicts and was the chief surgeon of several fronts for many years. Only a severe wound did not allow him to finish the war in Berlin. Rich surgical experience inspired further scientific and clinical researches in thoracic surgery.