Biography:Josef von Fodor

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Short description: Hungarian professor
Josef von Fodor
Jozsef Fodor(hygienist).JPG
Born(1843-07-16)July 16, 1843
Lakócsa, Hungary
DiedMarch 19, 1901(1901-03-19) (aged 57)
NationalityHungarian
Alma materCistercian Grammar School
Eötvös Loránd University
University of Vienna
University of Munich
University of Wuerzburg
University of Buda-Pesth
Known forHygiene
Public health
Scientific career
FieldsHygiene
Doctoral advisorsJános Rupp
Other academic advisorsMax Josef von Pettenkofer
Justus von Liebig
Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen
Albert Hilger

Josef von Fodor (16 July 1843 – 19 March 1901) was a Hungarian professor of hygiene at the University of Buda-Pesth and pioneer of public health.

Early life and education

Birth

Josef von Fodor was born on 16 July 1843 in Lakócsa, Somogy County of Hungary.[1]

Family

Josef's father was Galántai Fodor Antal [Hu] and his mother was Mary Picha. He had a daughter, Margit Fodor who married Zsigmond Gerlóczy.[citation needed]

Education

He studied medicine at Buda-Pesth, Vienna, and Munich and was awarded Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Buda-Pesth on 19 October 1865.[1] He completed a degree as a master of ophthalmology and obstetrics, and on 17 July 1866 he completed a degree in surgery.

Around 1870, von Fodor took a Wanderjahr with the support of a state grant to visit the largest cities of Europe (Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, England) to study their hygiene practices.[1][2]

Death

Professor von Fodor died on 19 Mar 1901 from sequelae of influenza supervening on arterial sclerosis[3] He is buried at Rijeka Road Graveyard.

Career

Professor von Fodor made significant contributions in teaching hygiene, investigating the connection between public health and conditions of water and air, and also studied many other projects including disinfectants and the effects of carbon monoxide, which he introduced the first quantitative analytical method for determining carboxyhemoglobin saturation.[3][4][5] Professor von Fodor was among the first to demonstrate the spread of typhoid through water.[2] In 1886 he reported the in vivo bactericidal activity of the blood, concluding that the organism was protected against the spread of bacteria by an unknown vital power of blood, and in 1887 he demonstrated in vitro that whole blood is able to reduce anthrax bacilli.[6]

It has also been suggested Prof. von Fodor was the first to suggest establishing a National Institute for Public Health and a Regional Institute of Public Health and Epidemiology.[2]

Appointments

  • 1866 - Assistant to the Chair of State Medicine at Buda-Pesth
  • c. 1866 - Inspector of Deaths in Buda-Pesth
  • 1869 - Prosector/dissecting doctor of the Hospital of St. Roch. (Saint Rokus)
  • 1869 - qualified as Privat-docent
  • 1870 - Studied at the University of Munich under Max Josef von Pettenkofer and Justus von Liebig
  • c. 1870 - Worked at Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen and Albert Hilger’s institute at the University of Würzburg[2]
  • 1872 - appointed Ordinary Professor of State Medicine at University of Klausenburg (or University of Kolozsvár)
  • 1874 - appointed Chair of Hygiene at the University of Buda-Pesth
  • c. 1890 - elected Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
  • 1894 - elected Rector of the university

Achievements

As the Chair of Hygiene, Professor von Fodor influenced sanitation reform throughout Hungary.[1]

In 1885, Professor von Fodor played a key role in founding the Institution of School of Medical Officers, and established the Hungarian National Health Association with Lajos Markusovszky.[1]

He served as editor of the Bulletin of the Society of Public Health "Health" from 1887, and edited a section of the Hungarian Medical Journal called Public Health and Forensic Medicine. Professor von Fodor was regarded as a pioneer of modern public health.[2]

Awards and honors

Statue of Josef von Fodor
  • 1874 - Great Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences[2]
  • 1883 - Hygienic Exhibition (Berlin), awarded Empress-Queen Augusta gold medal for preventative medicine
  • 1891 - International Congress of Hygiene (London), awarded honorary degree of LL.D. from University of Cambridge[7]
  • Honorary member of the German Public Health Association (Verein fur Offentliche Gesundheitspflege)[2]
  • Member of public health associations of Paris, Brussels, Florence and London[2]
  • prizes from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Royal Medical Association of Buda-Pesth
  • appointed to the Presidents of the Superior Health Council of Hungary
  • Honorary member of the Association of Medical Officers of Great Britain[2]
  • nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine by Andreas Hoegyes and by Anton von Genersich[8]
  • 1909 - on 29 August 1909 the National Public Health Association erected a bronze bust ( the work of György Vastagh Jr. ) in the capital, in the VIII. district Gutenberg Square, with the inscription “First Apostle of Our Public Health” engraved on the sculpture foundation. In Kaposvár, a full-length bronze statue, in its native village, Lakócsa, Somogy county, also a bust and a memorial plaque mark the memory of the famous native of the village.

Publications

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Group, British Medical Journal Publishing (1901-04-06). "Josef von Fodor, M.D" (in en). Br Med J 1 (2101): 871–872. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.2101.871. ISSN 0007-1447. https://www.bmj.com/content/1/2101/871. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 "Fodor, József". http://baratikor.semmelweis.hu/galeria/eng/page.php?id=37. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 "JOSEF VON FODOR, M.D., HON. LL.D. (CANTAB.), Professor of Hygiene in the University of Budapest" (in en). Journal of the Sanitary Institute 22 (1): 96. 1901. doi:10.1177/146642400102200108. ISSN 2399-3405. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/146642400102200108. 
  4. Hopper, Christopher P.; Zambrana, Paige N.; Goebel, Ulrich; Wollborn, Jakob (2021). "A brief history of carbon monoxide and its therapeutic origins" (in en). Nitric Oxide 111-112: 45–63. doi:10.1016/j.niox.2021.04.001. PMID 33838343. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1089860321000367. 
  5. Nowak, Josef (1881) (in de). Lehrbuch der Hygiene: systematische Zusammenstellung der wichtigsten hygienischen Lehrsätze und Untersuchungs-Methoden, zum Gebrauche für Studierende der Medicin, Physikats-Candidaten, Sanitäts-Beamte, Ärzte, Verwaltungs-Beamte. Toeplitz & Deuticke. pp. 128. https://books.google.com/books?id=otm9WV3tmM8C&q=Das+Kohlenoxyd+vom+hygienischen+Standpunkt+von+Fodor&pg=PA126. 
  6. Cavaillon, Jean-Marc; Sansonetti, Philippe; Goldman, Michel (2019). "100th Anniversary of Jules Bordet's Nobel Prize: Tribute to a Founding Father of Immunology" (in English). Frontiers in Immunology 10: 2114. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2019.02114. ISSN 1664-3224. PMID 31572361. 
  7. C, W. H. (1901-04-01). "Prof. Josef Von Fodor" (in en). Nature 63 (1640): 544. doi:10.1038/063544a0. ISSN 1476-4687. Bibcode1901Natur..63..544W. 
  8. "Josef von Fodor" (in en-US). 2020-04-01. https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=9752. 
  9. Medicine (U.S.), National Library of (1972) (in en). Index-catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office, United States Army: Authors and subjects. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 702. https://books.google.com/books?id=Kw45AQAAMAAJ&q=von+Fodor+1880+carbonic+oxide&pg=RA3-PA702.