![Armauer Hansen - Jo Visdal - Botanisk hage - Bergen 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Armauer_Hansen_-_Jo_Visdal_-_Botanisk_hage_-_Bergen_3.jpg)
Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen () (29 July 1841 – 12 February 1912) 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 ...
physician, remembered for his identification of the
bacterium
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were amon ...
''
Mycobacterium leprae
''Mycobacterium leprae'' (also known as the leprosy bacillus or Hansen's bacillus), is one
of the two species of bacteria that cause Hansen’s disease (leprosy), a chronic but curable infectious disease that damages the peripheral nerves an ...
'' in 1873 as the causative agent of
leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...
.
His distinguished work was recognized at the International Leprosy Congress held at Bergen in 1909.
Life
Hansen was born in
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
, Norway, and attended the
Bergen Cathedral School. He worked at
Rikshospitalet
Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet is one of the four main campuses of Oslo University Hospital in Oslo, Norway. It was an independent hospital, ''Rigshospitalet'', later spelled ''Rikshospitalet'' ("The National Hospital"), from 1826 to 200 ...
in
Christiania (now Oslo) and as a doctor in
Lofoten
Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolvà ...
. In 1868 Hansen returned to Bergen to study leprosy while working at Lungegård Hospital (''Lungegårdshospitalet'') with
Daniel Cornelius Danielssen
Daniel Cornelius Danielssen (4 July 1815 – 13 July 1894) was a Norwegian physician. He was most noted for his research regarding the causes and treatment of leprosy.
Biography
Danielssen was from Bergen, Norway. Dating from 1839, he was ass ...
, a noted expert.
Leprosy was regarded as largely
hereditary or otherwise
miasmic in origin. Hansen concluded on the basis of
epidemiological
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
studies that leprosy was a specific
disease
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
with a specific cause.
In 1870–71 Hansen travelled to
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
and
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
to gain the training necessary for him to prove his
hypothesis
A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obse ...
.
In 1873, he announced the discovery of ''Mycobacterium leprae'' in the tissues of all sufferers, although he did not identify them as bacteria, and received little support.
The discovery was made with a "new and better" microscope.
In 1879 Hansen gave tissue samples to
Albert Neisser, who then successfully
stained the bacteria and announced his findings in 1880, claiming to have discovered the disease-causing organism. There was some dispute between Neisser and Hansen, Hansen as discoverer of the bacillus and Neisser as identifier of it as the
etiological
Etiology (pronounced ; alternatively: aetiology or ætiology) is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek (''aitiologÃa'') "giving a reason for" (, ''aitÃa'', "cause"); and ('' -logÃa''). More completely, e ...
agent. Neisser tried to downplay the assistance of Hansen. Hansen's claim was weakened by his failure to produce a pure
microbiological culture in an artificial medium, or to prove that the
rod-shaped
A bacillus (), also called a bacilliform bacterium or often just a rod (when the context makes the sense clear), is a rod-shaped bacterium or archaeon. Bacilli are found in many different taxonomic groups of bacteria. However, the name '' Baci ...
organisms were infectious. Further Hansen had attempted to infect at least one female patient without consent and although no damage was caused, that case ended in court and Hansen lost his post at the hospital.
Hansen remained medical officer for leprosy in Norway and it was through his efforts that the leprosy acts of 1877 and 1885 were passed, leading to a steady decline of the disease in Norway from 1,800 known cases in 1875 to just 575 cases in 1901.
Hansen had suffered from
syphilis since the 1860s but died of
heart disease. He was an atheist.
Women's rights
He was a co-founder and a board member of the Bergen chapter of the
Norwegian Association for Women's Rights
The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights ( no, italic=no, Norsk Kvinnesaksforening; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's and girls' rights organization and works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights thr ...
, led by his sister, prominent women's rights advocate Amalie Hansen.
Honors
* Leprosy Museum (''Lepramuseet'') at St. Jørgen Hospital in Bergen has been dedicated to Hansen.
*
Haukeland University Hospital has established ''Armauer Hansens hus'' as a research facility operated by the
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...
.
* In Jerusalem, a 19th-century leprosarium has borne Hansen's name since 1950. It has been reconstructed into an art center while preserving the physician's surname in its title.
*Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under the ministry of Health is named after Hansen. AHRI is a Biomedical research Institute in Ethiopia working in tuberculosis, HIV, malaria, leishmaniasis training, and research.https://ahri.gov.et/
[https://ahri.gov.et/]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Gerhard Armauer
1841 births
1912 deaths
Physicians from Bergen
People educated at the Bergen Cathedral School
University of Oslo alumni
Norwegian atheists
Norwegian medical researchers
Norwegian leprologists
Norwegian public health doctors
Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal
Norwegian Association for Women's Rights people