Hoimar von Ditfurth (15 October 1921,

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 ...

– 1 November 1989,

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...

) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

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 scientific

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. He was the father of

Christian von Ditfurth Wolf-Christian von Ditfurth (born March 14, 1953) is a German author and historian. He was a member of the German Communist Party from 1973 to 1983. In January 1998, he joined the SPD, remaining a member for two years. During the twenty-first ...

, a historian, and

Jutta Ditfurth Jutta Gerta Armgard von Ditfurth (born 29 September 1951) is a German sociologist, writer, and radical ecologist politician. Born into the noble house of Ditfurth, members of which had been noble ministeriales invested with hereditary administra ...

, a writer and journalist. Ditfurth won many awards during his long career, including the

Adolf Grimme Awards The Grimme-Preis ("Grimme Award"; prior to 2011: Adolf-Grimme-Preis) is one of the most prestigious German television awards. It is named after the first general director of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Adolf Grimme.Bambi Prize in 1972, and the

Kalinga Prize The Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science is an award given by UNESCO for exceptional skill in presenting scientific ideas to lay people. It was created in 1952, following a donation from Biju Patnaik, Founder President of the Kalinga ...

in 1978.

Biography

Hoimar Gerhard Friedrich Ernst von Ditfurth was a German physician, academic, and scientific journalist, best known as a television presenter and as a writer of popular books on science. Ditfurth was born in Berlin on 15 October 1921, into the family of the classical philologist Hans-Otto von Ditfurth, a national conservative Prussian cavalry captain. In 1939 he gained his school-leaving ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'' at the Viktoria-Gymnasium in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

(today the Helmholtz-Gymnasium), then studied medical science,

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

, and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the universities of

and

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

, receiving his doctoral degree in 1946. From 1948 to 1960 Ditfurth worked at the university hospital of

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

, rising to the position of an assistant medical director. In 1959 he was habilitated at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

and became a private lecturer in

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

and

neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

. In 1967 he was promoted to associate professor in the medical faculty at the same university, and from 1968 held the same position at the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

. 1960 Ditfurth took a job in the pharmaceutical company C.F. Boehringer of

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

, where he was the leader of the so-called “Psycho Lab”, being responsible for the development and clinical testing of

psychotropic drugs A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior. Th ...

(

Chlorpromazine Chlorpromazine (CPZ), marketed under the brand names Thorazine and Largactil among others, is an antipsychotic medication. It is primarily used to treat psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Other uses include the treatment of bipolar dis ...

). From 1964 until 1971 he was editor of the journal ''N+M'' (“Naturwissenschaft und Medizin”). From 1972, the publication was renamed ''Mannheimer Forum'' and was published by Ditfurth until his death. In 1969 he refused the position of manager, commenting "I don't want to sacrifice my intellectual independence", and instead began a new career as a freelance lecturer, publisher, and scientific journalist. Hoimar von Ditfurth was successful as an author of popular science books and as a television presenter on the WDR, SFB, SR, and ZDF networks. Courageously, he tried to bridge the gap between natural sciences and humanities. One focus of his work was to fight against

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...

creationism Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 't ...

, and

anthropocentrism Anthropocentrism (; ) is the belief that human beings are the central or most important entity in the universe. The term can be used interchangeably with humanocentrism, and some refer to the concept as human supremacy or human exceptionalism. F ...

. In 1949 Hoimar von Ditfurth married Heilwig von Raven. Together they had four children:

Jutta The feminine name Jutta (pronounced "yutta") is the German form of Judith. There is also an alternative theory that it could be derived from the Germanic name ''Eutha'', meaning "mankind, child, descendant", or from a short form of ''Henrietta'' ...

(born 1951), Wolf-Christian (born 1953), Donata-Friederike (born 1956) und York-Alexander (born 1957). In 1971 he became well-known to a wider audience by making the ZDF series “Querschnitt” (later “Querschnitte”) together with Volker Arzt. In the late 1970s he increasingly turned his hand to ecological subjects and became a critic of the western world's belief in progress and economical growth. At the beginning of the 1980s he supported "

Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...

" in its election campaign. Ditfurth was a member of the German PEN-Zentrum. In his book ''The Origins of Life: Evolution as Creation'' (1982), he wrote that

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

are compatible and argued that

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

is a process brought into being through a divine agency and that creation was not a single event but is instead the long-term process of evolution. The book opposed religious creationism and was described as similar to the

theistic evolution Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution) is a theological view that God creates through laws of nature. Its religious teachings are fully compatible with the findings of modern science, including biological ...

ism of

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

.Janet Browne (1984)
''Review of Paul Heyer 'Nature, human nature, and society: Marx, Darwin, biology, and the human sciences''
Medical History, 28, pp. 102-102 . His daughter Jutta Ditfurth became a politician, while his son Christian von Ditfurth became important as a historian, journalist and writer. On 1 November 1989 Ditfurth died of

thyroid cancer Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck. C ...

and was buried in Staufen.

Books

* "Die endogene Depression", 1960 * "Kinder des Weltalls", 1970 ("Children of the Universe") * "Im Anfang war der Wasserstoff", 1972 * "Zusammenhänge", 1974 * "Dimensionen des Lebens", 1974 (together with Volker Arzt) * "Der Geist fiel nicht vom Himmel", 1976 * "Die Großen - Leben und Leistung der sechshundert bedeutendsten Persönlichkeiten unserer Welt", herausgegeben von Kurt Fassmann unter Mitwirkung von Max Bill, Hoimar von Ditfurth u.a., Kindler Verlag, Zürich 1977 * "Querschnitt – Dimensionen des Lebens II", 1978 (together with Volker Arzt) * "Wir sind nicht nur von dieser Welt", 1981 ("The Origins of Life-Evolution as Creation") * "So laßt uns denn ein Apfelbäumchen pflanzen", 1985 * "Unbegreifliche Realität", 1987 * "Innenansichten eines Artgenossen", 1989 * "Das Gespräch", 1992 (Interviewer: Dieter Zilligen), * "Das Erbe des Neandertalers", 1992 (posthumous) * "Die Sterne leuchten, auch wenn wir sie nicht sehen", 1994 (posthumous) * "Die Wirklichkeit des Homo sapiens", 1995 (posthumous)

References

* ''Die Frau an seiner Seite – Gespräche mit Frauen berühmter Männer'', hrsg. v. Helga Märthesheimer. Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch-Gladbach 1988. (Gespräch von Carola Benninghoven mit Heilwig von Ditfurth. S. 31-55) * ''Der Gottheit lebendiges Kleid - Evolutionstheorie und Glaube''. Franz Kreuzer im Gespräch mit Hoimar von Ditfurth, Kardinal Franz König und Arnold Keyserling. Deuticke Verlag 1982. * Eckart Löhr: ''Hoimar von Ditfurth - Aspekte seines Denkens''. Eine kritische Einführung in das Denken des Mediziners, Wissenschaftlers und Wissenschaftsjournalisten anlässlich seines 20. Todesjahres. Grin Verlag 2009.

External links

Hoimar-von-Ditfurth.de

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ditfurth, Hoimar Von 1921 births 1989 deaths Writers from Berlin German male journalists German psychiatrists German male writers ZDF people 20th-century German journalists Kalinga Prize recipients