Oscar Bernhard

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Bernhard with child patients
Medal on the occasion of the 70th birthday

Oscar Bernhard - Oskar written in some sources - (* May 24, 1861 in Samedan ; † November 14, 1939 in St. Moritz ; resident in Chur ) was a Swiss doctor and co-founder of heliotherapy .

Life

After graduating from high school in Chur (Nicolaischule) with the Matura (Abitur), Oscar Bernhard began his medical studies in Zurich in 1880 , which he continued in Bern and Heidelberg . Even before the state examination, he became an assistant in anatomy, physiology and surgery to Emil Theodor Kocher , professor of surgery in Bern. In 1886 he opened his own practice in Samedan in the Upper Engadin . In 1893 he married Elisabetha (Lili) Imhoof, von Winterthur (daughter of Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer ) and co-founded the Samedan District Hospital, which he headed from 1895 to 1907. In 1899 he opened his own private clinic in St. Moritz, where he dealt in particular with heliotherapy (sunlight treatment) for joint and bone tuberculosis . He accelerated wound healing processes and treated tuberculosis by exposing his patients to sunlight. He got the idea from Bündnerfleisch , which farmers produce with the help of the antiseptic and drying effects of the mountain air. In 1912 his main work on heliotherapy appeared.

Family grave in St. Moritz

After acquiring his mountain guide license at the age of 18, Oscar Bernhard was a keen mountaineer and hunter all his life. From 1894 to 1904 he was president of the Bernina section of the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC). Bernhard was one of the first to support the then missing mountain rescue and in the winter of 1891 organized a Samaritan course for mountain guides, SAC club members and other interested parties on "First aid in the event of injuries and sudden illnesses in the mountains" in Samedan. A booklet entitled "Samaritan Service", first published in 1896 and translated into several languages, was widely used. With special consideration of the conditions in the high mountains ». In 1901 the SAC began to set up an internal rescue service.

Segantini Museum around 1910, painting by U. dal Fabbro

Oscar Bernhard had a close friendship with the painter Giovanni Segantini , which dates back to 1894 when Segantini moved from Savognin to Maloja . He was also the patron and doctor of Segantini and looked after him when he died on September 28, 1899 on the Schafberg due to perforated appendicitis . In 1908 Bernhard co-founded the Segantini Museum in St. Moritz.

Oscar Bernhard's interest in numismatics stems from the fact that he inherited a collection of Greek and Roman coins from his father-in-law Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer, which was transferred to the Münzkabinett Winterthur in 1951 . Among other things, he published a book on "Greek and Roman coin images in their relationship to the history of medicine" and a study on "Animals of Africa on Greek and Roman coins".

progeny

  • Friedrich Oscar (born August 1, 1908 - January 19, 1986)

portrait

  • 1911 bronze cast medal by Benno Elkan Front: DOCTOR MED OSCAR BERNHARD ST MORITZ MDCCCCXI - half-length portrait to the left. Back: EX SOLE SALUS - Reclining male nude facing the great sun. Literature: Menzel-Severing no.182

Awards

Oscar Bernhard received numerous honors, including the Dr. honoris causa of the universities of Frankfurt a. M. (1928) and Bern (1921), membership of the French Legion of Honor (“Ordre National de la Légion d'honneur”) and the Italian “ Ordine della corona d'Italia ”. In 1921 he became an honorary citizen of St. Moritz. In 1933 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina Scholars' Academy .

Fonts

  • Samaritan service. With special consideration of the conditions in the high mountains , Verlag Simon Tanner, Samedan 1896
  • Heliotherapy in the high mountains with special consideration of the treatment of surgical tuberculosis , Verlag Ferdinand Enke, Stuttgart 1912
  • Sunlight treatment in surgery , Ferdinand Enke Verlag, Stuttgart 1917
  • Greek and Roman coin images in their relationship to the history of medicine , Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 1926
  • About animals of Africa on Greek and Roman coins , in Swiss Numismatic Review , Bern 1930

literature

  • Peter Friedli:  Bernhard, Oskar. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 120 ( digitized version ).
  • Karl Flachsmann, The Engadin Doctor Oskar Bernhard (1861-1939) and the founding of heliotherapy in surgical tuberculosis , Schwabe & Co., Basel / Stuttgart 1966, ISBN 978-3-7965-0372-6
  • Paul Ehrler, Heliotherapie , Nebelspalter-Verlag, Rorschach, 1985 (publisher Bernhard-Stiftung, St. Moritz)
  • Heini Hofmann: St. Moritz health myth. Sour water, mountain sun, mountain climate . Gammerter Druck und Verlag AG, 3rd edition, St. Moritz 2017, (1st edition 2011), ISBN 978-3-9524798-0-3 .

Web links

Commons : Oscar Bernhard  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Höhensonne, dating approx. 1950, place of origin Chur, H1999.1009 , on RaetischesMuseum.gr.ch
  2. ↑ Heini Hofmann: The founder of mountain rescue , Zeit -fragen, January 30, 2018
  3. ↑ Untervaz Castle Association Untervaz 1913: Dr. Oscar Bernhard and the mountain rescue
  4. ↑ Heini Hofmann: Forgotten Alpine Medic from Engadin , Neue Zürcher Zeitung, June 1, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Bernhard, Oscar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bernhard, Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss doctor
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Samedan
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1939
Place of death St. Moritz