Rudolf Kronfeld

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Rudolf Kronfeld (born December 10, 1901 in Vienna , † February 13, 1940 in Chicago ) was an Austrian doctor and dentist who is considered the founder of oral pathology and oral histology. Along with Bernhard Gottlieb , Balint Orbán , Joseph Peter Weinmann , Albin Oppenheim and Harry Safe, he was a representative of the famous " Vienna School " founded in 1923 , which achieved worldwide fame through the publication of microscopic studies of periodontal diseases using human autopsy material . In 1938, all Jewish university staff at the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna were dismissed. These include Bernhard Gottlieb (1885–1950), Balint Orbán (1889–1974), Joseph Peter Weinmann (1896–1960), Albin Oppenheim (1875–1945) and Harry Safe (1889–1974). Their names are not known to many in this country, they only achieved great fame in America and their scientific activities were highly valued and honored many times.

Life

Rudolf Kronfeld was the son of the dentist Robert Kronfeld Sr. (1874-1946) and his wife Hedwig, née Deutsch († 1905; sister of the editor Paul Deutsch ). He was the nephew of the city's senior physician and long-time editor-in-chief of the Wiener Medizinischen Wochenschrift , Adolf Kronfeld and the botanist Ernst Moriz Kronfeld . His brother was the Austrian glider pioneer Robert Kronfeld . His cousin Peter Kronfeld was a famous eye doctor in Chicago.

Although Rudolf's parents were of Jewish origin, the children were raised in the Christian faith, as was the case with many assimilated upper-middle-class Jewish families. The grandparents, Jacob and Ernestine Esther Kronfeld, nee Sass, had already emigrated from Lviv (Lemberg, Galicia ) to Vienna when the pogrom mood increased after the assassination attempt on the Russian Emperor Alexander II in 1881 by the social revolutionary secret organization Narodnaya Volja was carried out, which was however put at the expense of "the Jews". His father had already converted to Christianity in 1893 in order to avoid disadvantages based on anti-Semitism . Nevertheless, the parents had their marriage and later the children entered in the register of the Jewish community of Vienna in 1898. In 1908, the sons, like the other family members, converted to Christianity and were baptized Protestants .

As a child, Rudolf was so fascinated by botany that at the age of ten he was able to identify all the plants and flowers in the city. He was also an excellent skier and climber. In 1926 he completed his medical studies at the University of Vienna and concentrated on stomatology , especially in the field of research. He was fortunate enough to be trained in the laboratory of the Jewish scientist Bernhard Gottlieb (1885–1950), head of the Clinic for Histopathology at the Vienna Dental Institute, which became the nucleus of the internationally renowned “ Vienna School ”. In April 1930 Rudolf married the American Margareth North from St. Louis , whom he had met in Vienna beforehand

In the late 1930s he not only had a serious illness - one goes from multiple sclerosis from - to fight, but he was concerned about the life-threatening circumstances by the Jewish persecution of its remaining European members of the family by the Nazis . The anti-Semitism from which he had fled seemed to be catching up with him again. Rudolf Kronfeld had lost his will to live and in 1940 chose suicide as the last act of self-determination. At the express request, he was cremated and his ashes dumped in the sand of the southern beach of Lake Michigan , where he owned a summer house.

Scientific activity

From 1927, under the direction of Bernhard Gottlieb, he established the basic principles of modern oral pathology and oral histopathology. However, Rudolf Kronfeld decided in 1929 to emigrate to the USA. At the age of 28 he followed his compatriot Balint Orban , director of the College of Dental Surgery at Loyola University Chicago (USA). He wanted to achieve his academic degree in the USA and again completed a medical degree (MD), a dental degree, which he completed as a Doctor of dental surgery (DDS) and with a BS in 1933. Due to the international reputation of the "Vienna School", Kronfeld seized the opportunity to become the youngest professor at Loyola University Chicago (USA), where he received the chair of histopathology at the Chicago College of Dental Surgery (CCDS), which served his interests in oral pathology .

The results of his basic research, such as the "Histopathology of carcinoma of the mouth", the "Dental histology and comparative tooth anatomy" and the "Histopathology of teeth and their surrounding structures", attracted particular attention. The latter was soon considered the standard textbook for study and research and was published in five editions by 1955. One of his best-known publications is the publication with the title dens in dente , published in 1934 , in which he described this rare tooth deformity including the "theory of retardation". The " Journal of Dental Research " published in 2019 his findings in a section called "historical highlights" ( English historical highlights ). Kronfeld published a total of 43 articles in American journals, 19 in German journals, one in an English specialist journal, and two basic books.

In 1937 the members of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) elected him Vice President. He also became President of the renowned American Academy of Periodontology (AAP).

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Publications (selection)

  • Histopathology of the of carcinoma of the mouth, J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 18 (1931) 1900-1915.
  • Histopathology of the Teeth and Their Surrounding Structures, Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia, 1933. Internet Archive.
  • Dens in dente, J. Dent. Res. 14 (1934) 49-66.
  • Dental Histology and Comparative Dental Anatomy, Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia, 1937.
  • Innovations in the field of dental therapy, Centralblatt for the entire therapy. 20 (1902) 1-10.
  • Plate dentures and bridge work, Vienna. Med. Wochenschr. 43 (1910) 1-13.
  • Practical dentistry for doctors and students, published by Moritz Perles, Vienna, 1900.
  • The teeth of the child, second ed., Published by Arthur Felix, Leipzig, 1922.
  • Dental Education in America, Z. Stomatol. 29 (1931) 626-637.
  • Research and the future of dentistry, Bull. Chicago Dent. Soc. 19 (1933) 17-21.
  • Histologic study of the influence of function on the human periodontal membrane, J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 18 (1931) 1242-1274.
  • with WHD Logan, Development of the human jaw and surrounding structures from the birth to the age of 15 years, J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 51 (1933) 379-427.
  • Histologic Analysis of the Jaws of a Child With Malocclusion, ” The Angle Orthodontist, Jan 1938, Volume 8, No. 1, pp. 21-38.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rudolf Kronfeld , The Angle Orthodontist, 1940, Volume 10, No. 1, pp. 45–46. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  2. ↑ Katharina Reinecke, Jens Westemeier, Dominik Gross : In the shadow of National Socialism: Early emigration and suicide of the oral pathologist Rudolf Kronfeld (1901–1940). In: Pathology - Research and Practice. 215, 2019, p. 152682, doi : 10.1016 / j.prp.2019.152682 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Kronfeld, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian doctor and dentist, founder of oral pathology and oral histology
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1940
Place of death Chicago