The main milestones in the work of outstanding scientists S.I. Spasokukotsky and I.G. Kochergin are presented. The historical aspects of teachings on disinfection of the surgeon’s hands are analyzed. It is noted that at the beginning of antiseptic era, the main attention when treating the surgeon’s hands was paid to mechanical cleaning — washing hands with brushes with soap in hot water. However, this mechanical method was not effective enough. Therefore, after washing, hands were treated with antiseptic solutions, due to which it was possible to achieve relative sterility of the skin surface, but the microbes located in the depths of it did not die under the influence of disinfectants. In this regard, the idea arose to use tanning substances in order to densify the surface of the skin and for a longer time to close the skin pores in order to prevent the emergence of microorganisms on the surface. It is shown that three basic principles of disinfection of the surgeon’s hands have been evolved: mechanical processing, chemical disinfection, tanning of the skin, on the basis of which various methods of processing the hands and their various modifications were developed. The paper presents the requirements common to all methods: first of all, the processing of the skin of the hands, especially carefully, of the fingers (the area of the joints, the cushions of the nails, the space under the free edges of the nails), and then the skin of the forearms to the elbow joint; brushes, wipes used for treating hands, instruments must be sterile; first, the brushes and forearms are treated with a napkin or brush, then with another napkin (brush) — mainly the hands. It is noted that the most famous in our country are the classical methods of processing the hands by the surgeon Fürbringer, Alfeld and the method of Spasokukotsky — Kochergin. The latter enjoyed wide popularity for decades among domestic surgeons.