Daniel Cornelius Danielssen

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Daniel Cornelius Danielssen

Daniel Cornelius Danielssen (born July 4, 1815 in Bergen , Norway ; † July 13, 1894 ibid) was a Norwegian doctor , zoologist and member of the Storting . He is considered the "father of leprosy research ".

Life

The Bergen Museum's scientific staff in the 1880s (from left to right): Jørgen Brunchorst, Gerhard Armauer Hansen, Fridtjof Nansen, Daniel Danielssen, Herman Friele (1838–1921)

From a modest - he was the son of the watchmaker Berent Henrik Danielssen (1785-1864) and his wife Catharine Friederike Holberg Ibsen († 1839) - Daniel left Danielssen at the age of 13 years, the school in order for a pharmacist in the teaching to go. At the age of 17, he developed tuberculosis of the hip. He overcame the disease after a year and a half, but was paralyzed for the rest of his life. In self-study he prepared for the “Præliminærexamen”, which gave him access to the university. He then studied medicine in Christiania , today's Oslo. He finished his studies in 1838 as Examinatus medicinae . He was not a fully trained doctor, but was allowed to practice. Danielssen first became a military doctor. In the fall of 1839 he returned to Bergen, where he at St. George's Hospital, a leprosarium , whose history dates back to the 14th century, began to deal scientifically with leprosy. In 1843 he traveled to Vienna, Berlin and Paris to study. In 1846 he gave up his work for the military for good. In 1847 he published with the dermatologist Carl Wilhelm Boeck (1808-1875) from Kongsberg , the fundamental work Om Spedalskhed ( German About Leprosy ), which was also published in French a year later. The book reflected the fundamental findings of its authors about the symptoms and the course of leprosy, but could not explain its cause. Since efforts to transmit the disease - even in self-experiments - were unsuccessful, leprosy was considered to be a hereditary disease . After spending almost the entire year 1847 in Paris, Danielssen took over the management of the newly established Lungegaard Hospital, a research facility with places for 90 patients. To care for the sick, in 1857 he founded the care pen for leprosy no. 1 ( Pleiestiftelsen for spedalske no. 1 ).  

Danielssen became an extremely important personality for the social and political life of Bergen. From 1856 until his death he was a member of the city council. In Storting he represented the city for several electoral terms, the first time in 1859, the last time in 1876. In 1844 he was co-founder and temporarily chairman of the Literary Society, in 1850 of the Norwegian Theater ( Det Norske Theater ), in 1854 of the Bergen Athenaeum, as well as the Society for the Advancement of Science, the Society for the Promotion of the Norwegian Fisheries Industry and several charitable institutions. In 1852 he was accepted into the board of directors of the Bergen Museum , founded in 1825 by Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie , which a century later formed the nucleus of Norway's second university . In 1864 he took over the management of the museum and transformed it from a cabinet of curiosities into a modern scientific research facility. This development had already started shortly before Danielssen was admitted to the board, when Johan Koren , a curator for the zoological collection, was hired for the first time in 1846 . A fruitful collaboration developed between the two men, which lasted until Koren's death in 1885. A second man who strongly influenced Danielssen's turn to zoology was Michael Sars , a pastor and zoologist who, around 1850, with his dredges in Norwegian fjords and off the Lofoten, refuted the abyssus theory of the English zoologist Edward Forbes , according to which below one Water depth of about 500 meters no life is possible. The three-volume work Fauna littoralis Norvegiae was created through the collaboration of these three men . In the 1870s, Danielssen, as a member of Storting, played a central role in approving funds for the Norwegian North Sea Expedition . He also took part as a zoologist in this expedition led by Henrik Mohn and Michael Sars' son Georg Ossian Sars with the steamer Vøringen in the summer months from 1876 to 1878. Danielssen and Koren described most of the animals that were collected.

Danielssen took over the management of the museum as the new museum building, which he had done most of the fundraising, was completed. After it had been used for a major fishing exhibition in 1865, the collection was transferred and the house opened to the public in 1867. In the 1870s and 1880s, Danielssen attracted more scientists to the museum, initially in 1874 as the second curator Olaf Scheveland Jensen (1847–1887). After his departure he hired the 21-year-old Fridtjof Nansen in 1882 and the botanist Jørgen Brunchorst in 1886 . Even Gerhard Armauer Hansen , who discovered the leprosy bacillus Mycobacterium leprae and Danielssens son, worked in the 1880s at the museum.

Daniel Danielssen died in 1894 a few days after his 79th birthday. His body was taken by steamer to the nearest crematorium in Gothenburg by his two closest collaborators, Armauer Hansen and Brunchhorst . It is believed that his ashes are now in the base of his bust in the anteroom of the Bergen Museum.

family

Danielssen married Berthe Marie Olsen (1818–1875) on April 24, 1839. The couple's four children - Fredrikke, Alfhilde, Stephanie ("Fanny") and Henrik - died as young adults of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Honors

Daniel Danielssen was a member of many scientific societies such as the Videnskabsselskabet i Christiania (today's Norwegian Academy of Sciences ), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences , the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and, since 1882, the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina . He was honorary doctor of the University of Lund (1868) and the University of Copenhagen (1879). He became a knight in 1863 and commander of the Order of Saint Olav in 1885 .

To Spitsbergen belonging island Danielssenøya and the volcanic crater Danielssenkrateret on Jan Mayen are named after Daniel Danielssen.

Works (selection)

  • Alcyonida . Report from Den norske Nordhavsekspedisjon 1876–1878, Volume 4: Zoologi , Grøndahl 1887.
  • Actinida . Report from Den norske Nordhavsekspedisjon 1876–1878, Volume 4: Zoologi , Grøndahl 1890.
  • Crinoida & Echinida . Report from Den norske Nordhavsekspedisjon 1876–1878, Volume 4: Zoologi , Grøndahl 1892.
with Carl Wilhelm Boeck
  • Om Spedalskhed . Bergen 1847.
with Johan Koren
  • Fauna littoralis Norvegiae or description and illustrations of new or little-known sea animals together with observations on the organization, way of life and development of these , Beyer, Bergen, 2nd volume , 1856, 3rd volume , 1877.
  • Gephyrea . Report from Den norske Nordhavsekspedisjon 1876–1878, Volume 4: Zoologi , Grøndahl 1881.
  • Holithurioidea . Report from Den norske Nordhavsekspedisjon 1876–1878, Volume 4: Zoologi , Grøndahl 1882.
  • Asteroidea . Report from Den norske Nordhavsekspedisjon 1876–1878, Volume 4: Zoologi , Grøndahl 1884.
  • Pennatulida . Report from Den norske Nordhavsekspedisjon 1876–1878, Volume 4: Zoologi , Grøndahl 1884.

literature

Web links

Commons : Daniel Cornelius Danielssen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tony Gould: A Disease Apart. Leprosy in the Modern World . St. Martin's Press, 2005, ISBN 0-312-30502-8 , chapter 2 .
  2. ↑ a b c Knut Fægri: Daniel Cornelius Danielssen . In: Norsk biografisk leksikon
  3. ^ Albrecht Scholz: Boeck, Carl Wilhelm. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 197.
  4. ↑ Vidar Bjørnsen: Den norske Nordhavsekspedisjonen on the Norsk Polarhistorie website, accessed on May 10, 2015.
  5. ↑ Marit E. Christiansen: hav Stormfullt. The Norske Nordhavs Expedition. 1876–1878 on the website of the Natural History Museum Oslo , February 9, 2009, revised version from February 24, 2012, accessed on May 7, 2015
  6. ↑ Danielssenøya . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).
  7. ↑ Danielssenkrateret . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).
personal data
SURNAME Danielssen, Daniel Cornelius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian doctor, zoologist and MP for the Storting
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1815
PLACE OF BIRTH Bergen , Norway
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 1894
Place of death Bergen , Norway