Adolf Mauritz Fonahn (15 June 1873 – 21 August 1940) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, medical historian and orientalist. He is best known for his work including those revolving around

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

's anatomical drawings (where he was one of the first who interpreted Leonardo's mirror writing), early Persian and Arabic medical literature, and more generally the study of medical history and Asian languages. Fonahn is known for his diverse areas of interest and multitude of his works; these included ''Zur Quellenkunde der persischen Medizin'' (Persian Medicine and its Source) published in 1910 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

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, ''Orm og ormmidler i nordiske medicinske skrifter fra middelalderen'' (? Norwegian Medicine from the Middle Ages) published in 1905, ''Arabic and Latin anatomical terminology: chiefly from the Middle Ages'' in 1922, ''A Palmyrene man's Name in Arabic transcription on a surgical bronze instrument'' in 1920, ''Japanese ornamented arrow-heads'' in 1929, and translations of multiple works for

given out in such publications as ''24 fogli della Royal Library di Windsor: Cuore: Anatomia e fisiologia'' (24 sheets of the Windsor Royal Library on heart anatomy and physiology) in 1912.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fonahn, Adolf 1873 births 1940 deaths People from Larvik 20th-century Norwegian physicians Norwegian medical historians Norwegian orientalists