William Philipps Dunbar

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Photography by William Philipps Dunbar

William Philipps Dunbar (born October 27, 1863 in Saint Paul (Minnesota) , † March 19, 1922 in Heidelberg ) was an American-German hygienist .

Life

Dunbar was born in the American state of Minnesota as the son of the Scottish-born banker Lewis Dunbar and the German-born pastor's daughter Joh. Emilie Naumann. He went to Germany to attend school and then worked first on an estate , then as a merchant. He then studied medicine at the University of Giessen , where he passed the state examination in 1892 and became the assistant to the hygienist Georg Gaffky . In September of this year he accompanied his boss to Hamburg , where he had been called to fight the cholera epidemic of 1892 . When the Hygiene Institute was founded there on December 28th, Dunbar was appointed director of the new facility on Gaffky's recommendation. He continued this job until his death in 1922. During this time he expanded the institute from a small laboratory to a major research facility with more than 100 employees. His successor was Rudolf Otto Neumann .

In his spare time, William Philipps Dunbar was enthusiastic about sailing, among other things, and was a passionate singer and musician. He was seen as despotic and unfriendly towards his employees. In 1892 he married Nelly Pascoe (* 1872, † 1946), the daughter of the Cornwall director of the Gießener Braunstein mine, Samuel Pascoe. In his second marriage he married the piano virtuoso Anita von Hillern-Flinsch (* 1890, † 1977) in Hamburg in 1914, who has since performed under the name Anita von Hillern-Dunbar and moved to Sweden after her husband's death . Her parents were the Freiburg merchant Oskar von Hillern-Flinsch and Charlotte von Hillern. Dunbar had two sons and a daughter from his first marriage, and another daughter from his second marriage.

Researches

Since the institute, headed by Dunbar, was initially founded to fight a cholera epidemic, this disease and the fight against the plague were among his research tasks. He achieved new results in identifying the pathogens and found that these can also be identified in healthy people. This finding was very controversial at first, but eventually became generally accepted. Another field of research Dunbars was the tribal history of microorganisms , where he tried to prove a relationship between algae , mold , yeast and bacteria . As an allergist , for example, he dealt with hay fever , the origin of which he was able to prove for the first time through pollen .

In addition to the theoretical questions of hygiene and the closely related bacteriology, his research also focused on the practical problems of the department. He is considered to be one of the pioneers in wastewater technology and brought about various innovations in sewage technology ; his guideline for wastewater treatment issues of 1907 appeared in its third edition in 1954.

Fonts (selection)

  • On the cause and specific healing of hay fever. R. Oldenbourg, Munich / Berlin 1903.
  • On the question of the position of bacteria, yeasts and molds in the system. The emergence of bacteria, yeast and mold from algae cells. R. Oldenbourg, Munich / Berlin 1907.
    • New edition with an introduction by Georg Meinecke. Semmelweis Institute, Hoya 1981.
  • Guide to the wastewater purification issue. Oldenbourg, Munich 1907 (2nd edition 1912, 3rd edition 1954)
  • The wastewater from the potash industry. Expert opinion on the salinisation of the rivers by the wastewater from the potash industry. Oldenburg, Munich / Berlin 1913 (table of contents: PDF; 279 KB ).
  • Home health care (= house books for maintaining health. Volume 4 / Max Hesse's library of modern knowledge. Volume A, 4). Max Hesse, Leipzig 1914.
  • The salinization and hardening of the Elbe water. R. Oldenbourg, Munich 1921 (joint reprint of several articles from Gesundheits-Ingenieur , born in 1921, numbers 8/14/15/16).

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the place of death see the notes of Rudolf Otto Neumann with Romy Steinmeier: "But Hamburg also had its good sides". Rudolf Otto Neumann and the Hygiene Institute Hamburg (= series of publications by the Institute for Hygiene and Environment, Hamburg. Volume 3). Edition Temmen, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-86108-083-4 , p. 28 (wrong date of death).
  2. ↑ Anita von Hillern-Dunbar (1890-1977). levandemusikarv.se, accessed April 8, 2017.
  3. ↑ Romy Steinmeier: "But Hamburg also had its good sides". Rudolf Otto Neumann and the Hygiene Institute Hamburg (= series of publications by the Institute for Hygiene and Environment, Hamburg. Volume 3). Edition Temmen, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-86108-083-4 , p. 31.
personal data
SURNAME Dunbar, William Philipps
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German hygienist
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Saint Paul, Minnesota
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1922
Place of death Hamburg