Georg Friedrich Nicolai (born Lewinstein; 6 February 1874 – 8 October 1964) was a German

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...

Biography

He was born in 1874 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. He studied at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, and later practiced medicine at the

Charité The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine) is one of Europe's largest university hospitals, affiliated with Humboldt University and Free University Berlin. With numerous Collaborative Research Cen ...

. He admired the works of physiologist

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov Ivan Petrovich Pavlov ( rus, Ива́н Петро́вич Па́влов, , p=ɪˈvan pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈpavləf, a=Ru-Ivan_Petrovich_Pavlov.ogg; 27 February 1936), was a Russian and Soviet experimental neurologist, psychologist and physio ...

, and with internist Friedrich Kraus, he published a book on

electrocardiography Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a recording of the heart's electrical activity. It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of the electrical activity of the hear ...

titled ''Das Elektrokardiogramm des gesunden und kranken Menschen''. In 1914, at the onset of World War I, Nicolai composed an anti-war treatise called "

Manifesto to the Europeans The ″Manifesto to the Europeans″ (German: ''Aufruf an die Europäer'') was a pacifistic proclamation written in response to the Manifesto of the Ninety-Three that included as its authors, German astronomer, Wilhelm Julius Foerster, and German p ...

". Only three other intellectuals in Germany signed Nicolai's

manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...

; they being

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

Wilhelm Julius Förster and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

Otto Buek. During the war he published ''The Biology of War'', an indictment of

warfare War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...

which was translated into several languages. Wolf Zuelzer, "Nicolai, Georg Friedrich" in ''The World Encyclopedia of Peace''. Edited by

Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling (; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific top ...

Ervin Laszlo Ervin may refer to: *Ervin (given name) *Ervin (surname) *Ervin Township, Howard County, Indiana, one of eleven townships in Howard County, Indiana, USA See also * Justice Ervin (disambiguation) * Earvin * Ervine * Erving (disambiguation) * Erwan ...

, and

Jong Youl Yoo Jong may refer to: Surname *Chung (Korean surname), spelled Jong in North Korea *Zhong (surname), spelled Jong in the Gwoyeu Romatzyh system *Common Dutch surname "de Jong"; see ** De Jong ** De Jonge ** De Jongh * Erica Jong (born 1942), Ameri ...

. Oxford : Pergamon, 1986. (Vol. 2, p. 42-46). As a result, he was demoted and sent to the comparatively remote Tucheler Heide,

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...

(

Tuchola Forest The Tuchola Forest, also known as Tuchola Pinewoods or Tuchola Conifer Woods, (the latter a literal translation of pl, Bory Tucholskie; csb, Tëchòlsczé Bòrë; german: Tuchler or Tucheler Heide) is a large forest complex near the town of Tuch ...

) area. ''The Biology of War'' was praised by

Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...

, who became a friend of Nicolai. In 1917, a

Court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

accused Nicolai to have violated a press law. The manuscript of ''Die Biologie des Krieges'' was smuggled to Switzerland; an unauthorized edition was published. His book (a pleading for a stable enduring peace between the nations) promptly became known in many European countries. The

Oberste Heeresleitung The ''Oberste Heeresleitung'' (, Supreme Army Command or OHL) was the highest echelon of command of the army (''Heer'') of the German Empire. In the latter part of World War I, the Third OHL assumed dictatorial powers and became the ''de facto'' ...

(then the de facto government of Germany) started another lawsuit against him. Nicolai successfully organized a military plane and fled to Switzerland. On 25 December 1918 he returned to Berlin. In 1920, he tried to lecture to again at the Charité, but rowdish nationalistic students hindered him. In 1922 he emigrated to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

where he worked and taught in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, Physiology Department, School of Medicine, University of Cordoba and later

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. In the 1930s he wrote ''Das Natzenbuch'' (A Natural History of National Socialist Movement and of Nationalism in General), in which he denounced

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

as "one of the greatest, possibly greatest danger to the further development of the human race". He died on 8 October 1964 in

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

References

Sources

''The Biology of War''
(1918) Full text at Internet Archive * http://www.inst.at/trans/15Nr/10_5/10_5inhalt15.htm * Herbert Gantschacher

* ttp://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8359.html Princeton University Press Manifesto to the Europeans

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolai, Georg Friedrich 1874 births 1964 deaths German physiologists German pacifists German expatriates in Chile German anti–World War I activists German expatriates in Argentina

Biography

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links