Heinrich Ernst Albers-Schönberg (21 January 1865 – 4 June 1921) was a German

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...

and

radiologist Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiatio ...

. He was a native of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. He studied medicine at the Universities of

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...

and

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 ...

, where in 1891 he earned his medical doctorate under the guidance of Heinrich Curschmann (1846-1910). From 1892 to 1894 he was an assistant at Hamburg-Eppendorf Hospital, afterwards working as an assistant to

Paul Zweifel (1848–1927) at the University of

. Soon afterwards, he settled in Hamburg as a medical practitioner. In 1897, with internist Georg Deycke (1865–1938), he established an

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

clinic and laboratory in Hamburg. Later, he was appointed head of the radiology department at St Georg Hospital. In 1919 he became a full professor and chair of radiology at the newly established

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

. Albers-Schönberg is credited with providing a description of

osteopetrosis Osteopetrosis, literally "stone bone", also known as marble bone disease or Albers-Schönberg disease, is an extremely rare Biological inheritance, inherited disease, disorder whereby the bones harden, becoming Density, denser, in contrast to mor ...

, a condition sometimes referred to as "Albers-Schönberg disease". It is described as a syndrome of excessive bone

calcification Calcification is the accumulation of calcium salts in a body tissue. It normally occurs in the formation of bone, but calcium can be deposited abnormally in soft tissue,Miller, J. D. Cardiovascular calcification: Orbicular origins. ''Nature Mat ...

causing a marble-like appearance with increased radiological density of the skeleton. He was an early specialist in the field of radiological medicine. In 1903 he discovered that exposure to radiation caused damage to the reproductive glands of rabbits. In cooperation with other scientists, he helped bring about numerous technical innovations into the field of radiology. He is credited with the introduction of radiation protection devices, procedures and equipment for radiation/dose assessment, the "orthoroentgenograph", and the compression diaphragm. He received a grand prize at the

1904 World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

; his diagnostic X-ray pictures far outclassed the competition in regards to

clarity Clarity may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Clarity, a magic spell in the online game ''EverQuest'' * Clarity, a fictional drug from the film ''Minority Report'' Music Albums * ''Clarity'' (Jimmy Eat World album) * ...

. In 1903 he published his best known work, a book on radiological techniques called ''Die Röntgentechnik - Lehrbuch für Ärzte und Studierende'' (sixth edition, 1941).Heinrich Ernst Albers-Schönberg - bibliography
@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograph ...

In 1905 he was a founding member of the ''Deutsche Röntgen-Gesellschaft'' (German Radiological Society). With Georg Deycke, he founded the journal ''Fortschritte auf dem Gebiete der Röntgenstrahlen''. His name is included on the ''

Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations The Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations (also known as the X-ray Martyrs' Memorial) is a memorial in Hamburg, Germany, commemorating those who died due to their work with the use of radiation, particularly X-rays, in medicine. ...

'' erected in Hamburg in 1936.

References

* ''Parts of this article are based on a translation of an article from the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

.''
''Heinrich Albers-Schönberg''
@

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albers-Schonberg, Heinrich 1865 births 1921 deaths Physicians from Hamburg German radiologists German gynaecologists University of Hamburg faculty University of Tübingen alumni Leipzig University alumni X-ray pioneers