Wolfgang Thomas Rau

Wolfgang Thomas Rau (born December 11, 1721 in Ulm , † July 5, 1772 in Geislingen an der Steige ) was a German medical officer and scientific writer. In his writings he advocated medical supervision and health education of the population as well as the supervision of pharmacists. In this context he was the first to coined the term Medicinischen Policey for the state health care.

Life

Wolfgang Thomas Rau was born in Ulm as the son of the councilor David Wilhelm Rau. After studying medicine in Altdorf near Nuremberg , which he completed with a doctorate, he became a city physician in Ulm in 1742 . In 1747 he took over the post of medical officer in Geislingen an der Steige. From 1751, at the request of the Bavarian councils, he became a medical officer in the towns of the former help stone and in 1769 personal physician to Baron Maximilian von Rechberg and his family.

Work and honors

In addition to his work as a medical officer, he wrote 35 papers on medical topics. In his doctoral thesis he dealt with birthmarks . He then examined the spread of smallpox for the purpose of disease control . In his writings he called for health monitoring and health education of the population as well as control of the pharmacy. In 1764 he coined the term Medicinischen Policey for ideas of comprehensive state health care , which Johann Peter Frank used in the title of his standard work on this subject a few years after Rau's death . Rau also wrote a description of the red chalk bath near Geislingen.

On January 17, 1756 he was given the academic surname Serapion III. a member ( matriculation no. 606 ) of the Leopoldina and in 1759 he was elected a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . The city of Geislingen an der Steige honors him with the Dr.-Rau-Weg.

Web links

Member entry of Wolfgang Thomas Rau at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on March 18, 2019.
Member entry of Wolfgang Thomas Rau at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina
Hartmut Gruber: Wolfgang Thomas Rau - doctor in Geislingen and champion of general public hygiene, you lived in Geislingen, City Archives - Geislingen an der Steige, 2016
Baden-Württemberg state bibliography online: Rau, Wolfgang Thomas

Individual evidence

^ Willi Ule : History of the Imperial Leopoldine-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the years 1852–1887 . With a look back at the earlier times of its existence. Commissioned by Wilhelm Engelmann in Leipzig, Halle 1889, supplements and additions to Neigebaur's history, p. 161 ( archive.org ).
^ ^A ^b Karl-Heinz Leven : History of Medicine - From Antiquity to the Present . 2nd Edition. Verlag CHBeck, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-406-70525-0 , p. 40 .
^ Johann Daniel Ferdinand Neigebaur : History of the Imperial Leopoldino-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the second century of its existence. Friedrich Frommann , Jena 1860, p. 222 (archive.org)

personal data
SURNAME	Rau, Wolfgang Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German doctor
DATE OF BIRTH	December 11, 1721
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ulm
DATE OF DEATH	July 5, 1772
Place of death	Geislingen an der Steige

[1] Willi Ule : History of the Imperial Leopoldine-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the years 1852–1887 . With a look back at the earlier times of its existence. Commissioned by Wilhelm Engelmann in Leipzig, Halle 1889, supplements and additions to Neigebaur's history, p. 161 ( archive.org ).

[Leven-2] A ^b Karl-Heinz Leven : History of Medicine - From Antiquity to the Present . 2nd Edition. Verlag CHBeck, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-406-70525-0 , p. 40 .

[3] Johann Daniel Ferdinand Neigebaur : History of the Imperial Leopoldino-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the second century of its existence. Friedrich Frommann , Jena 1860, p. 222 (archive.org)