Siegfried Oberndorfer (24 June 1876 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

– 1944 in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

) was a Jewish-German physician,

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in t ...

, and cancer researcher.

Medical studies

Oberndorfer studied medicine in

and

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

, earning the title of doctor in 1900. From October 1900 to September 1901, he assisted

Friedrich Wilhelm Zahn Friedrich Wilhelm Zahn (14 February 1845 – 1904) was a German-Swiss pathologist born in Germersheim. His eponyms include Zahn infarct and lines of Zahn. Life Zahn studied medicine at the University of Strasbourg under Friedrich Daniel von Reck ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. Working as a ship's doctor, he ended an outbreak of plague on the

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

-to-

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

route in 1901. In 1902 he returned to Germany as assistant to the pathological institute of the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...

, headed by

Otto Bollinger Otto Bollinger (2 April 1843 – 13 August 1909) was a German pathologist born in Altenkirchen, Kusel, Rhineland-Palatinate. In 1868, he obtained his doctorate in Berlin and two years later received his habilitation. He taught classes at the ...

Early medical career

In 1906, Oberndorfer was promoted to lead the pathological institute of the

Rechts der Isar Hospital The Rechts der Isar Hospital (''Hospital to the right of the Isar'') is a hospital in the Haidhausen district of Munich, Germany. It is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the TUM School of Medicine. Overview In Britain, ...

. In 1906 he qualified as a professor in pathological anatomy, presenting a thesis on chronic

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a ru ...

. In 1907, he introduced the medical term

carcinoid A carcinoid (also carcinoid tumor) is a slow-growing type of neuroendocrine tumor originating in the cells of the neuroendocrine system. In some cases, metastasis may occur. Carcinoid tumors of the midgut (jejunum, ileum, appendix, and cecum) ...

(German: ''Karzinoide'') that is still in use today. From 1910, he headed the pathology department of the Schwabing Clinic in Munich.

World War I service

With the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in August 1914, Oberndorfer volunteered as a doctor for the military. He worked in a field hospital on the western front until 1916, then served as an army pathologist until the war ended in 1918. By detailed autopsies of soldiers killed in combat, Oberndorfer investigated possible therapies to heal serious war injuries. His examining instruments are lodged in a display case in the foyer of the Schwabing Clinic — along with scientific notes about his experiences as a field doctor and handwritten letters from the front to his family in Munich. His professional certificates, military honors and medals are also on display.Ulrike Heikaus
“Ungewöhnliche Recherchewege (Unusual research methods)”
Munich Jewish Museum blog, January 15, 2013.

Sacked by Nazis, takes exile in Turkey

On April 1, 1933, the newly installed

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

regime dismissed Oberndorfer from the Schwabing Clinic — along with chief physicians Otto Neubauer and David Mandelbaum — due to his Jewish ancestry. In autumn 1933, following an invitation from Istanbul University, Oberndorfer left Germany for Turkey. He continued living and publishing in Turkey for the rest of his life, working as a full professor at the medical school and director of the Institute for General and Experimental Pathology in Istanbul. In 1937 he was transferred to the Institute for Cancer Research. Oberndorfer died in 1944 from a

mediastinal tumor A mediastinal tumor is a tumor in the mediastinum, the cavity that separates the lungs from the rest of the chest. It contains the heart, esophagus, trachea, thymus, and aorta. The most common mediastinal masses are neurogenic tumors (20% of medi ...

Reference Notes

Publications

* Karzinoide Tumoren des Dünndarmes. Frankfurter Zeitschrift für Pathologie, 1907, 1: 426-429. * Pathologisch-anatomische Situsbilder der Bauchhöhle. In: Lehman’s Medizinische Atlanten, Munich, 1922. * Die Geschwülste des Darmes. In: Handbuch der pathologischen Anatomie, Band 4,3, Berlin, 1929. * Prostata, Hoden, Geschwülste. In: Handbuch der pathologischen Anatomie, Band 6, Berlin, 1931.

External links

''Siegfried Oberndorfer''
@

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 bibliograp ...

Siegfried Oberndorfer in Pathology Department of LMU München
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberndorfer, Siegfried German pathologists 1876 births 1944 deaths Physicians from Munich German emigrants to Turkey