Adolf Gottstein (2 November 1857 in Breslau – 3 March 1941) was a German social

hygienist Hygiene is a series of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

and epidemiologist. He studied in medicine at the universities of Breslau,

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

and Leipzig, obtaining his doctorate with a dissertation on

marasmic Marasmus is a form of severe malnutrition characterized by energy deficiency. It can occur in anyone with severe malnutrition but usually occurs in children. Body weight is reduced to less than 62% of the normal (expected) body weight for the a ...

thrombosis. In 1886, he relocated to Berlin, where he worked at a private medical practice until 1911, spending his free time performing research in the laboratories of pathologist Carl Friedländer (1847–1887), pharmacologist

Oskar Liebreich Matthias Eugen Oscar Liebreich (14 February 1839 – 2 July 1908) was a German pharmacologist. Biography He was a native of Königsberg. He studied chemistry under Carl Remigius Fresenius (1818–1897) in Wiesbaden, and studied medicine in König ...

(1839–1908) and bacteriologist

Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( , ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera (though the Vibrio ...

(1843–1910). Gottstein was deeply interested in epidemiological and statistical studies, as well as social hygiene issues from a medical standpoint.Deutsche Biographie
(biography) In 1906 he became a municipal councillor in Berlin-Charlottenburg, followed by an appointment as ''Stadtmedizinalrat'' (1911). In 1914 he was ''Geheimer Sanitätsrat'' (privy medical councillor), and from 1919 to 1924 served as ministerial director. In this capacity he took a progressive stance in regards to public health, being associated with initiatives that included establishment of the ''Landesgesundheitsrates'' (Prussian State Health Council), the ''Krüppelfürsorgegesetz'' (welfare act involving the crippled) and the creation of three academies of social hygiene.

Selected writings

* ''Epidemiologische Studien uber Diphtherie und Scharlach'' (Epidemiological studies on diphtheria and

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects childr ...

, 1895 * ''Allgemeine Epidemiologie'' (General epidemiology), 1897 * ''Die Periodizita¨t der Diphtherie und ihre Ursachen. Epidemiologische Untersuchung'', 1903 * ''Die Lehre von den Epidemien'' (The doctrine of

epidemics An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious d ...

), 1925 * ''Handbuch der sozialen Hygiene und Gesundheitsfürsorge'', with

Arthur Schlossmann Arthur Schlossmann (16 December 1867 – 5 June 1932, in Düsseldorf) was a German pediatrician and social public health specialist. Born in Breslau, Schlossmann attended the Kreuzschule in Dresden from 1874 to 1886. He obtained his doctorate from ...

(1867–1932) and Ludwig Teleky (1872–1957), 1925-27 * ''Allgemeine Epidemiologie der Tuberkulose'' (General epidemiology of tuberculosis), 1931.World Cat Identities
(bibliography)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gottstein, Adolf Physicians from Wrocław Hygienists German microbiologists 1857 births 1941 deaths Burials at Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery People from the Province of Silesia German public health doctors