Richard Kockel

Richard Kockel (born January 5, 1865 in Dresden , † January 19, 1934 in Leipzig ) was a German pathologist and university professor. He headed the Leipzig Institute for Forensic Medicine for more than three decades . The Society for Forensic Medicine of the GDR named its Medal of Merit for special scientific findings after him .

Life

School and study

Richard Kockel was born in Dresden in 1865 as the son of the Royal Saxon Secret Council Franz Wilhelm Kockel, a consultant at the Saxon Ministry of Culture and Public Education. There he graduated from the well-known Kreuzschule . He then studied medicine in Leipzig. In 1889 he passed the medical state and doctoral examination and received his doctorate in the same year. In 1890 he became an assistant at the Leipzig Medical Clinic . He worked there as an assistant doctor to Heinrich Curschmann (1846–1910), a well-known internist, and then to Felix Victor Birsch-Hirschfeld (1842–1899), who headed the Leipzig Institute of Pathology and was known for his histological staining methods. From 1894 Kockel took over his lectures in forensic medicine. A year later he completed his habilitation and became a private lecturer and first assistant at the Institute of Pathology. In 1898 he was appointed associate professor for forensic medicine.

Founding director of the Leipzig Institute for Forensic Medicine

In 1900, Kockel was appointed founding director of the Leipzig Institute for Forensic Medicine . Although his institute was formally independent from the Pathological Institute, Kockel worked under the most modest financial and personnel conditions. For a long time his wife acted as the institute's secretary, occasionally supported by his daughter. It was not until 1903 that a first assistant could be hired. Nevertheless, Kockel managed to set up a photographic laboratory. With his rapidly growing photo collection, he became a pioneer in scientific photography, which he introduced as evidence in the field of forensic medicine and forensics. The acquisition of a larger spectral apparatus made it possible to detect traces of blood on objects (later blood groups).

Methods

Kockel established a broad spectrum of investigation procedures at his institute, including those that are nowadays carried out directly by specially trained detectives (forensics) or other specialists. He achieved great merit by introducing methods of histology and scientific photography into the practice of forensic medicine . As an expert and appraiser in many court cases, he became known beyond the field. After long struggles in 1924 he pushed through the introduction of forensic medicine as an examination subject. The new forensic medicine building in Leipzig was built on his initiative in 1905 and was expanded in 1928. Destroyed several times during the Second World War, it was makeshiftly restored after the war and only refurbished in the 1950s.

Medical history collection

Kockel also founded the medical history collection at the Institute for Forensic Medicine at the University of Leipzig . It initially comprised 400 evidence objects and contained, for example, mummified body parts, osteological and wet specimens, tools for murder, display boards and photograms. As a result of the rebuilding of the institute since 2005, the collection has been packed in boxes, but is to be used again in teaching from 2009.

popularity

As a forensic doctor for the Leipzig judicial authorities, he examined burnt papers, broken paper folds, knife notch marks, bird feathers, sealing wax and bullets as well as slot machines. Kockel saw himself not only as a doctor, but also as a scientific criminalist. This completely new understanding of the profession and Kockel's rhetorical talent led to an increase in the number of students. Even non-specialist listeners - such as Ernst Jünger , who studied philosophy and natural sciences in Leipzig - were among the visitors to Kockel's lectures.

Kockel headed the Leipzig Institute from 1900 until his death in early 1934, when, shortly after his 69th birthday, he succumbed to the effects of tracheal cancer.

He is Valentin Kockel's grandfather .

Web links

• Richard Kockel in the professorial catalog of the University of Leipzig
• Overview of Richard Kockel's courses at the University of Leipzig (summer semester 1894 to summer semester 1914)
• Obituary for Richard Kockel in the International Journal of Legal Medicine 1/1934 doi: 10.1007 / BF01771744 .
• Biographical notes on Richard Kockel