Leo Alexander
Leo Alexander (October 11, 1905 – July 20, 1985) was an American
scientific experiment on humans
.
Life
Born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, Alexander was the son of a physician. His father, Gustav Alexander, was an ear, nose and throat doctor in Vienna, who had published more than eighty scientific papers even before Leo was born. His mother, Gisela Alexander, was the first woman awarded a PhD in philosophy from the University of Vienna.[1]
He graduated from the
Hitler's taking power, he couldn't return back to Germany, and was awarded a fellowship at a state mental hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts.[2]
He taught at the medical schools of
sterilization and euthanasia. Alexander later wrote that "science under dictatorship becomes subordinated to the guiding philosophy of the dictatorship."[3]
Later, he served as assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at
German Nazi concentration camp victims who had been injected by Josef Mengele with a precursor to gas gangrene, and provided them with psychiatric therapy.[5] Alexander wrote several books on psychiatry and neuropathology, and coined the terms thanatology—defined as the study of death—and ktenology—the science of killing.[6]
Alexander was a leading proponent of
Doctors' trial to bring psychiatrists to justice was due in part to Alexander being the chief investigator.[8]
Alexander died of cancer in 1985 in Weston, Massachusetts, survived by three children.
Notes
- ISBN 978-0316221047.
- ISBN 978-0316221047.
- PMID 18153643.
- ^ Gale, 2007.
- ^ New York Times, 1985.
- ^ Alexander, Leo (1948). "War Crimes and Their Motivation: The SocioPsychological Structure of the SS and the Criminalization of a Society". Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 39 (3): 326.
- PMID 13193207.
- PMID 23511221.)
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
References
- Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2007. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007. Retrieved on May 5, 2007.
- Kindwall, Josef A. (September 1949). "Doctors of Infamy (review)". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 265: 190–191. S2CID 144628729.
- Marrus, Michael R. (1999). "The Nuremberg Doctors' Trial in Historical Context". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 73 (1): 106–123. S2CID 29831220.
- "Dr. Leo Alexander, Psychiatrist, Fiance of Mrs. Anne". New York Times. 1969-12-07. p. 106.
- "Dr. Leo Alexander, 79; Nuremberg Trial Aide". New York Times. 1985-07-24. p. B5.
External links
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