Ferdinand August Schmidt

Ferdinand August Schmidt (born July 25, 1852 in Bonn ; † February 14, 1929 there ) was a German sports physiologist , sports doctor and scientific co-founder of physical education .

Ferdinand August Schmidt

Childhood and studies

Schmidt was born in Bonn, attended school there and, from 1862, the Royal High School in Bonn (today: Beethoven High School Bonn ). His special interests were painting and sports, especially gymnastics.

At the urging of his mother, he gave up the original idea of ​​an artistic career and began studying medicine at Bonn University in 1872 , during which he a. a. founded the "medical and scientific association". After obtaining his doctorate in 1876, completing his military service and a further study visit to Berlin, he settled in Bonn in 1880 as a general practitioner.

Ferdinand August Schmidt is an uncle of the painter Henriette Schmidtbonn and the poet Wilhelm Schmidtbonn .

Life and accomplishments

Physical education

True to his motto "Out of the halls on the green lawn and supplement the previous gymnastics with outdoor exercise games!", FA Schmidt has made a contribution to the development of physical education in Germany, on the one hand through his contributions to scientific research into physical education and on the other others by taking gymnastics out of the confines of closed rooms into air and sun. He was more interested in general mass sport and rejected high-performance sport on the grounds that this was a "hobby" based on a high expenditure of time, energy and resources in order to serve one's own ego and to attract attention. In 1886 Schmidt was a co-founder of the German Gymnastics School . In his efforts to promote sport, Schmidt became first chairman of the Bonn gymnastics club in 1883 (he held this position for 42 years), initiated the central committee for the promotion of youth and folk games in 1891 with Emil von Schenckendorff, and became its deputy chairman. In 1894 he campaigned for the introduction of new “people's competition exercises” (including 100 m run, obstacle run, triple jump, sling ball throw, discus throw, fast walking) and three years later initiated the first holiday games and holiday hikes for girls. In 1919, at the instigation of F. A. Schmidt, the first " open-air school Bonn-North" was opened. In 1924 he became first chairman of the " German Medical Association for the Promotion of Physical Exercise " ( German Association of Sports Physicians ). It is thanks to his work that the career of the gym teacher was raised to the academic level and the institutes for physical exercise were incorporated into the universities.

Academic work

Schmidt held lectures on body hygiene, sports physiology and sports medicine in Bonn and founded the Medical and Natural Science Association in 1873 as a corporation of the Bonn University (today in the WKStV Unitas-Salia Bonn ). He published numerous professional articles. In 1898 he received the honorary diploma "Concorso nazionale scolastico per la educazione fisica" from the Turin physiologist Mosso for his scientific work in the field of physical education, and in 1904 the golden diploma at the St. Louis World Exhibition for outstanding work in physiology. In 1906 the Prussian Ministry of Culture appointed Schmidt professor In 1911 he received the Golden Diploma from the Dresden Hygiene Exhibition for outstanding work in physiology. Two years later, the North American Gymnastics Union ("Normal College of the North American Gymnastic Union, Indianapolis") awarded him the "Master of Science in Gymnastics (MSG) hc" award. The teachings of FA Schmidt are still relevant today. At its congress in Leipzig in 2003, the World Association for Sports Medicine made it clear: "More than a hundred years ago, German physicians pointed out the value of regular physical exercise for maintaining health and performance of people into old age."

further activities

Schmidt had been the editor of the "Rheinisch-Westfälischen Spielverband" news paper since 1883 and founded with Dr. Hahn the press committee of the German Gymnastics Association. After Schmidt became city councilor of Bonn in 1887, he established a school medical service in the city of Bonn and built an auxiliary school for the mentally under-gifted. In 1889 he bought the house where Ludwig van Beethoven was born, together with the owner of the Bonn newspaper Hermann Neusser, and founded the Beethovenhaus association with him and others . Later he also became chairman of the “Beethoven House”.

In 1905 Schmidt became head school doctor.

In 1926 Schmidt celebrated his "Golden Doctoral Anniversary", became the first honorary member of the Prussian gymnastics teachers' association, received the honorary chairmanship of the German Medical Association for the promotion of physical exercise as well as the honorary membership and the gold medal "For services to music" by the Bonn men's choir and became an honorary citizen of the city of Bonn .

FA Schmidt was also one of the early supporters of the nudist movement.

death

On February 14, 1929, the Secret Sanitary Councilor F. A. Schmidt died at the age of 77. The honorary citizen of Bonn University found his final resting place in the old cemetery on Bornheimer Strasse.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ He actively supported the Association for Body Culture , Berlin. Cf. Festschrift for the nudist costume festival (Berlin: Kraft und Schönheit, February 13, 1908) p. 36f. Arnd Krüger : There Goes This Art of Manliness: Naturism and Racial Hygiene in Germany, in: Journal of Sport History 18 (Spring, 1991), 1, 135 - 158. http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/ JSH1991 / JSH1801 / jsh1801i.pdf

Works

• Our body. Manual of the anatomy, physiology and hygiene of physical exercise . R. Voigtländer, Leipzig 1899.
• The school child according to his physical characteristics and development . R. Voigtländer, Leipzig 1914.
• Physical exercise physiology . R. Voigtländer, Leipzig, 1922.
• Health education. For the women's school and home instruction . BG Teubner, Leipzig 1915.
• with Friedrich Knickeberg: The Beethoven House in Bonn and its collections . Publishing house of the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn 1927.

literature

• Walter Thörner: Ferdinand August Schmidt on his 100th birthday Verlag Bonner Universitäts-Buchdruckerei Gebr. Scheur GmbH, Bonn 1952.
• Rudolf Eccarius: Ferdinand August Schmidt - a picture of life in the course of time Diploma thesis of SHS Cologne, winter semester 1954/55
• Eerke U. Hamer: Two medicine professors as gymnastics reformers - FA Schmidts and F. Hueppes crusade for hygiene and body care. Eerke U. Hamer; Wildor Hollmann. 1st edition, Sport u. Book Strauss, Ed. Sport, Cologne 1992.
• Friedrich Heinrich Möcker: FA Schmidt - first sports physiologist and sports doctor - scientific founder of physical education , 2012 edition winterwork, ISBN 978-3-86468-145-5
• Josef Niesen : Bonn Personal Lexicon. 3rd, improved and enlarged edition. Bouvier, Bonn 2011, ISBN 978-3-416-03352-7 .
• Andreas Mettenleiter : Testimonials, memories, diaries and letters from German-speaking doctors. Supplements and supplements III (I – Z). In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 22, 2003, pp. 269-305, here: p. 290.

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand August Schmidt  - Collection of Images

• Literature by and about Ferdinand August Schmidt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Ferdinand August Schmidt  in the German Digital Library