Guido Holzknecht

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Sculpture by Joseph Josephu , 1932
Sculpture by Joseph Josephu, restored by Joseph Heu, condition 2008
Chromoradiometer from Holzknecht
Urn niches by Guido Holzknecht, Rudolf Kraus and Friedrich Knauer
Monument in Klosterneuburg

Guido Ludwig Holzknecht (born December 3, 1872 in Vienna ; † October 30, 1931 ibid) was an Austrian doctor and radiologist, university professor at the University of Vienna and a pioneer in radiology .

life and work

Guido Holzknecht was the son of a Viennese civil servant family. He attended the high school of the Benedictine monastery in Seitenstetten in Lower Austria. Holzknecht then studied medicine in Vienna, Strasbourg and Königsberg from 1893 to 1899. As a student, he experienced the discovery of X-rays, as one of his teachers was in close contact with Conrad Röntgen (1845-1932). Holzknecht first became an assistant doctor at the First Medical University Clinic in the General Hospital of the City of Vienna with Hermann Nothnagel , where he mainly dealt with radiology. In order to support the interest of his assistant Holzknecht in the young X-ray technology, Hermann Nothnagel had a device that had become available at his clinic. A separate X-ray station was soon set up under the direction of Guido Holzknecht.

His textbook Radiological Diagnosis of Disease of the Breast Viscera (1901) and Radiological Diagnosis of Stomach Cancer (1905) are called epoch-making . He wrote about an "X-ray light measuring apparatus", topics on radiation therapy and a manual of general and special radiology , over 250 publications appeared. The Holzknecht room and the Holzknecht spoon (a simple instrument for compressing the abdomen) are named after him.

Together with Robert Kienböck, Holzknecht was the founder of the Vienna X-ray Society as well as a board member and congress president of the German X-ray Society . The Holzknecht Institute , the X-ray nurses' school he founded and the X-ray Technical Research Institute have remained part of the Vienna General Hospital .

The pioneers of the time only slowly became aware of the harmful effects of X-rays. However, Guido Holzknecht recognized that the damage to the skin depends on the radiation dose administered. As a result of this knowledge, he constructed for the first time a device that could approximately determine the amount of radiation emitted: the chromoradiometer . With this simple, but not very reliable device, which he presented in 1902, the radiation damage to his department could be reduced by almost 90 percent. Holzknecht nevertheless fell victim to his profession. Like many other personalities of the first X- ray era, he died of the effects of radiation damage . Radiodermatitis , which first appeared on his hands, led to the amputation of a finger in 1910, followed by numerous operations on his hands and arms. He accepted these treatments with stoic equanimity. Specially made arm prostheses enabled him to do further development work. After decades of suffering and sixty-four mutilating operations, Holzknecht died of X-ray cancer on October 31, 1931 .

Guido Holzknecht worked in military medicine during the First World War and was particularly specialized in the detection and localization of foreign bodies and projectiles.

In recognition of his great achievements, a Holzknecht monument was unveiled in Arne-Karlsson-Park in Vienna on November 6, 1932. Also in 1932 the Holzknechtstrasse in Vienna- Favoriten was named after him.

His honorary grave (department ALI, number 60) is in the urn grove of the Simmering fire hall .

Activity in the Vienna Psychoanalytic Association (WPV)

Guido Holzknecht applied on October 5, 1910 for admission to the Vienna Psychoanalytical Association (previously Psychoanalytical Wednesday Society) and was recognized as a member a week later. He was an early patient of Sigmund Freud . When Freud later fell ill with cancer, Guido Holzknecht, as Vienna's leading radiologist, took on two x-rays in 1932. Holzknecht advocated the establishment of the association's outpatient clinic in 1922. He was close friends with the other member of the WPV, Paul Federn , who looked after him until his death on October 31, 1931. Sigmund Freud and Max Schur visited Guido Holzknecht on his deathbed.

Fonts

  • Radiographic diagnosis of the disease of the breast viscera (1901)
  • Radiology as an independent branch of science (1904)
  • X-ray diagnosis of gastric cancer (1905)
  • Radiology , 2 volumes (1918/24)
  • X-ray therapy (1924)
  • Attitude towards radiology (1927)
  • Handbook of theoretical and clinical radiology , 2 volumes (1929)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Sonia Horn: Guido Holzknecht , in: Wolfgang U. Eckart and Christoph Gradmann (eds.): Ärztelexikon. From antiquity to the 20th century , 3rd edition 2006 Springer Verlag Heidelberg, Berlin, New York pp. 175–176. doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-540-29585-3 .
  2. ^ Daniela Claudia Angetter: Guido Holzknecht: Life and work of the Austrian pioneer of radiology. Volume 1 of the writings on the history of medicine. Eichbauer 1998, ISBN 3-901699-08-2 .
  3. ^ A b c Elke Mühlleitner (with the collaboration of Johannes Reichmayr ): Biographical Lexicon of Psychoanalysis. The members of the Psychological Wednesday Society and the Vienna Psychoanalytical Association 1902–1938, Edition Diskord Tübingen 1992, pp. 161–162.
personal data
SURNAME Holzknecht, Guido
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holzknecht, Guido Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian doctor and pioneer in radiology
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH October 30, 1931
Place of death Vienna