Hans Zinsser
Hans Zinsser | |
|---|---|
epidemiologist | |
| Institutions | Columbia University Stanford University Harvard Medical School |
| Doctoral advisor | Philip Hanson Hiss |
| Doctoral students | William Hammon Rebecca Lancefield |
Hans Zinsser (November 17, 1878 – September 4, 1940) was an American physician, bacteriologist, and prolific author.[1]
The author of over 200 books and medical articles, he was also a published poet. Some of his verses were published in
He is remembered especially for his 1935 book, Rats, Lice and History.
Biography
Early life
The son of German immigrants, Zinsser was born in New York City in 1878. He attended Timothy Dwight School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1899 and completed both a master's degree and a doctorate in medicine there in 1903.[5]
In 1905, he married Ruby Handforth Kunz, eldest daughter of the mineralogist, George Frederick Kunz, and they had two children, Hans Handforth and Gretel Zinsser, and they all lived in Boston.
Career
After holding a series of academic medicine positions, Zinsser became an associate professor at
Zinsser taught as an exchange professor and worked with the
Zinsser's scientific work focused on bacteriology and immunology and he is most associated with typhus, especially the form called Brill–Zinsser disease, his namesake. He isolated the typhus bacterium and developed a protective vaccine. He wrote several books about biology and bacteria, notably Rats, Lice and History (1935), a "biography" of typhus fever.[7] Zinsser had a strong influence on the work of Albert Coons (1912–1978), who developed the technique of immunohistochemistry. Zinsser was a mentor to, and colleague of, John Franklin Enders,[8] who was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (together with Frederick Chapman Robbins and Thomas Huckle Weller).[9]
Zinsser was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1923,[10] the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1924,[11] and the American Philosophical Society in 1937.[12]
Zinsser succumbed to acute leukemia in 1940. He is interred in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.
References
- ^
Summers WC (1999). "Hans Zinsser: a tale of two cultures". The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 72 (5): 341–7. PMID 11049165.
- ^ a b "Zinsser, Hans". National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. New York: James T. White Company. 1950. Volume XXXVI, pp. 35-36.
- ^ "Books and Authors", The New York Times, 1936-04-12, p. BR12. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2007).
- ^ "Books and Authors", The New York Times, 1941-02-16, p. BR12. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2007).
- ^
PMID 16560389.
- ^ O'Hern, Elizabeth (1975). "Rebecca Craighill Lancefield, Pioneer Microbiologist" (PDF). ASM News. 4: 805–810.
- ^ Zinsser, Hans (1935), Rats, Lice, and History: Being a Study in Biography, Which, After Twelve Preliminary Chapters Indispensable for the Preparation of the Lay Reader, Deals With the Life History of Typhus Fever (Reprinted in 1963, 1996 (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers), and 2007 (Transaction Publishers))
- ^ "John Franklin Enders and Modern Vaccines | Manuscripts and Archives Blog". campuspress.yale.edu. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ "Past Presidents and Officers: John F. Enders, Ph.D." aai.org. The American Association of Immunologists, Inc. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ "Hans Zinsser". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. February 9, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
- ^ "Hans Zinsser". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
Further reading
- Zinsser, Hans. As I Remember Him: The Biography of R.S. Gloucester, Mass: Peter Smith. 1970.
External links
- National Academy of Sciences: Biographical Memoirs for Hans Zinsser
- Hans Zinsser Papers at The Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library, Harvard Medical School.
