Henning Brandis (17 July 1916 – 16 November 2004) was a German
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 ...
and
microbiologist
A microbiologist (from Ancient Greek, Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of Microorganism, microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, f ...
. He was Professor of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...
from 1967 until his 1984 retirement. He was editor-in-chief of the journal ''Zeitschrift für Immunitätsforschung'' (now ''
Immunobiology
Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...
''). He was a member of the
Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...
and received the Officer's Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
in 1976 for services to medical microbiology.
Background
Henning Brandis was a son of supreme court justice
Bernhard Brandis
Bernhard Friedrich Brandis (born 15 January 1875 in Dehradun, India, died 14/15 January 1935 in Leipzig) was a German supreme court justice.
As of 1914, he was a judge on a regional court in Elberfeld. He was appointed as a judge (''Reichsgericht ...
and a grandson of the renowned German-British botanist and forestry academic and administrator
Sir Dietrich Brandis, who worked with the
Imperial Forestry Service in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
and who is considered the father of tropical forestry. Sir Dietrich joined the British civil service in 1856 as superintendent of the teak forests of Pegu division in eastern
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, shortly after became head of the entire British forestry administration in Burma and later served for two decades as Inspector General of Forests of India, receiving a British knighthood in 1887. Henning Brandis' father was born and grew up in India during the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
. The family lived in
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
and in
Simla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...
during the summer. Henning Brandis and his wife founded the Sir Dietrich Brandis Foundation in 1994.
His great-grandfather was the prominent philosopher
Christian August Brandis
Christian August Brandis (13 February 179021 July 1867) was a German philologist and historian of philosophy.
Biography
Brandis was born at Hildesheim, and was the son of the physician Joachim Dietrich Brandis. His father moved to Copenhagen in ...
, who was tutor to the young
King Otho of Greece. His great-great-grandfather
Joachim Dietrich Brandis was a professor of medicine and moved to Denmark in 1810, where he became personal physician to
Queen Marie of Denmark, a Danish Privy Councillor and a member of both the
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
{{Infobox organization
, name = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
, full_name =
, native_name = Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab
, native_name_lang =
, logo = Royal ...
and the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...
. The
Brandis family was originally a patrician family from
Hildesheim
Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...
, where several family members served as burgomasters from the 15th century.
Career
He studied medicine at the
University of Frankfurt and at the
University of Marburg
The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...
from 1936 to 1942. After earning a doctoral degree, he served in the
Army Medical Service for three years. In late 1945 he became an
assistant professor
Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...
in
Schlossberger's research group at the Institute for
Medical Microbiology
Medical microbiology, the large subset of microbiology that is applied to medicine, is a branch of medical science concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. In addition, this field of science studies various ...
and
Infection Control
Infection prevention and control is the discipline concerned with preventing healthcare-associated infections; a practical rather than academic sub-discipline of epidemiology. In Northern Europe, infection prevention and control is expanded from ...
at the
Goethe University Frankfurt
Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...
. He was a major contributor to the 1952 edition of the book ''
Experimental Bacteriology
''Experimental Bacteriology: in Its Applications to the Diagnosis, Epidemiology, and Immunology of Infectious Diseases'' is a textbook on bacteriology and infectious diseases. It was one of the most authoritative works in medical microbiology in ...
''. He earned his
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...
with the dissertation ''Über die Promunität (Depressionsimmunität)'' in 1952.
From 1957 he was Professor Ordinarius of Infection Control at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
. In 1967 he became Professor Ordinarius of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...
. He was elected as a member of the
Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...
in 1974. He became Professor Emeritus in 1984.
Brandis was editor-in-chief of the journal ''Zeitschrift für Immunitätsforschung'' (now ''
Immunobiology
Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...
'') and is also known for his textbook ''Medizinische Mikrobiologie''.
Honours
* 1974: Member of the
Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...
* 1976: Officer's Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
* 1985: Ferdinand Cohn Medal of the
German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandis, Henning
German immunologists
German microbiologists
Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt
Academic staff of the University of Göttingen
Academic staff of the University of Bonn
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
People from Elberfeld
1916 births
2004 deaths
German Army personnel of World War II
Physicians from Wuppertal