Victor Robinson

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Victor Robinson

Victor Robinson (born August 16, 1886 in Ukraine , † January 15, 1947 in New York City ) was an American pharmacist, doctor and medical historian.

Live and act

Born in Ukraine , Victor came to the United States as a child , where his father, the dermatologist Dr. William J. Robinson became an early advocate of birth control. It was a long time before Victor found his true calling. He first studied for two years at the New York University Law School and then switched to the subject of pharmaceutical chemistry (Ph.G. 1910 from the New York College of Pharmacy; Ph.C. 1911 from Columbia University »). Finally, in 1917, he received his MD from the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery . He was fortunate that he never had to earn his living and so he practiced neither as a lawyer nor as a pharmacist nor as a doctor, but studied and taught history of medicine.

“There's nothing in my career to excite an advertising department. Father was a wealthy doctor and the author was raised in a middle-class household with comfort and culture. I never wandered the streets looking for a job (never had a job); has never been hungry (except between meals) and has never been arrested (until now). So, you see: I am not 'well off'. "

In 1920 Victor Robinson founded the first monthly magazine for the history of medicine, "Medical Life", which he published until 1938. At Temple University in Philadelphia he was from 1929 unpaid professor of history of medicine and from 1937 lecturer in history of nursing . He kept his residence in New York City , and so he commuted between New York and Philadelphia for his lectures. On January 15, 1947, he died of a heart attack in his apartment .

Henry E. Sigerist met Robinson in America in 1931. In the 1940s, he recalled:

“I was amazed to see that you weren't getting the recognition you deserved. Medical history was a bit aristocratic and restricted back then and you had written a book about a godless person like Kropotkin , about an anarchist like Sacco and Vanzetti . You were a fighter and a reformer, interested in many issues that were not seen as orthodox. "

Works (selection)

  • William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft . The Altrurians, New York 1907
  • Comrade Kropotkin . The Altrurians, New York 1908 (digitized version )
  • Pathfinders in medicine . Medical review of reviews, New York 1912 (digitized version)
  • An essay on hasheesh: including obeservations and experiments . Medical review of reviews, New York 1912 (digitized version)
  • The Don Quixote of psychiatry . Historico-medical press, New York 1919 (digitized version)
  • Pioneers of birth control in England and America . Voluntary parenthood leage, New York 1919 (digitized version )
  • The life of Jacob Henle . NY Medical Life Company, New York 1921 (digitized)
  • The story of medicine . The New Home Library, New York 1931; Reprint 1944 (digitized) . Translations into Spanish and Italian
  • Syllabus of Medical History . Froben Press, New York 1933 (digitized version)
  • Victory over pain. A History of Anesthesia . Henry Schuman, New York 1946
  • White caps. The story of nursing . JB Lippincott, Philademphia & New York 1946 (digitized)

literature

  • Obituary ... Victor Robinson . In: British Medical Journal . February 15, 1947, p. 275
  • Anne Tjomsland. Victor Robinson . In: Bulletin of the History of Medicine , Volume XXI (1947), pp. 525-531
  • Salomon R. Kagan and Reuben Friedmann (editors). Victor Robinson memorial volume. Essays on history of medicine in honor of Victor Robinson on his sixtieth birthday August 16. 1946 . Froben, New York 1948

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from George Rosen. Victor Robinson . In: Salomon R. Kagan and Reuben Friedmann (editors). Victor Robinson memorial volume. Essays on history of medicine in honor of Victor Robinson on his sixtieth birthday August 16. 1946 . Froben, New York 1948, p. 431
  2. ↑ In the original: “There is nothing in my career to excite a publicity department. Father was a prosperous physician, and the author was brought up in a bourgeois household of comfort and culture. I never walked the streets looking for a job (never had a job of any kind); never was hungry (except between meals) and have never been arrested (as yet). So, you see, I do not make a 'good copy'. "
  3. ↑ 4 St Lukes Place. New York City
  4. ↑ Henry E. Sigerist. A Tribute to Victor Robinson . In: Salomon R. Kagan and Reuben Friedmann (editors). Victor Robinson memorial volume. Essays on history of medicine in honor of Victor Robinson on his sixtieth birthday August 16. 1946 . Froben, New York 1948, p. XII
  5. ↑ In the original: “I was astonished to find that you were not given all the credit you deserved. Medical history in those days was a somewhat aristocratic and restricted subject and you had written a book on such a wicked man as Kropotkin, an anarchist like Sacco and Vanzetti. You were a fighter and reformer, interested in a number of subjects that were not looked upon as orthodox. ”

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Robinson, Victor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pharmacist, physician, and medical historian
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Ukraine
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1947
Place of death New York City