Adalbert Czerny
Encyclopedia
Adalbert Czerny
Adalbert Czerny (25 March 1863 – 3 October 1941 was a German pediatrician and is considered co-founder of modern pediatrics
. Several children's diseases were named after him.
and as of 1879 in Pilsen, where he
passed his Abitur
exam in 1882. He took up medical studies at the German Charles University in Prague
. He graduated with his doctoral thesis on a kidney disease in 1888 and took up clinical work as an assistant to Alois Epstein (1849–1918) at the "Findelanstalt" (hospital for foundlings), which was part of the Prague University Hospital.
In 1893, after his habilitation treatise in on glycogen and amaloid disorder and an appertaining lecture on the nutrition of newborns he received two offers for chairs of pediatrics in Innsbruck
and Breslau.He opted for Breslau and worked there until 1910.
In 1906 he was offered a position as full professor for pediatrics in Munich, but he declined it and as a reward was made personal full professor at the Breslau University including a considerable raise of his salary.
When he was offered the chair of pediatrics in the new Children's Hospital in Straßburg
in 1910 he accepted and worked there until 1913, when he became the successor of Otto Heubner
as full professor for pediatrics at the Berlin Charité
. For the next 19 years he worked there and - among other achievements - founded the international School of Pediatrics.
As professor emeritus he accepted a chair for pediatrics at the Medical Academy in Düsseldorf
, where he temporarily was head of the local Children's Hospital from 1934 to 1936.
Czerny was married and had one son Marianus (1896 –1985), who was a full professor for experimental physics in Frankfurt from 1938 to 1961.
Adalbert Czerny died on 3 October 1941 in Berlin und was buried in Pilsen.
and metabolic pathology
of neonates. During his time of work at the Berlin University Children's Hospital he carried on with research work on infant mortality
, as it had already been started by Heubner and gave it a scientific foundation. Together with his pupil and colleague Arthur Keller (1868–1934) he summarized the results of his Breslau work in 1906 in a two-volume manual "Des Kindes Ernährung, Ernährungsstörungen und Ernährungstherapie" (Children's nutrition, nutritional disturbance and therapeutic nutrition)– among experts simply known as the „Czerny-Keller“. Further editions were published in 1917 and 1928.
This work has basically determined the teaching of nutrition in pediatrics and as a result influenced the development of pediatrics itself up to the present. The term disorder of nutrition, which Czerny used, showed the relation between nutrition on the one and disease on the other hand. Czerny distinguished three groups of damages i. e. (a) due to nutrition, (b) due to infections and (c) due to physical constitution.
A second emphasis in his research work was the correlation between nutritional disturbance and the behaviour of the child. His repeatedly re-edited collection of lectures of 1908
"Der Arzt als Erzieher" ("The physician as an educator") shows this approach in its title.
were named after Czerny.
Adalbert Czerny (25 March 1863 – 3 October 1941 was a German pediatrician and is considered co-founder of modern pediatrics
. Several children's diseases were named after him.
and as of 1879 in Pilsen, where he
passed his Abitur
exam in 1882. He took up medical studies at the German Charles University in Prague
. He graduated with his doctoral thesis on a kidney disease in 1888 and took up clinical work as an assistant to Alois Epstein (1849–1918) at the "Findelanstalt" (hospital for foundlings), which was part of the Prague University Hospital.
In 1893, after his habilitation treatise in on glycogen and amaloid disorder and an appertaining lecture on the nutrition of newborns he received two offers for chairs of pediatrics in Innsbruck
and Breslau.He opted for Breslau and worked there until 1910.
In 1906 he was offered a position as full professor for pediatrics in Munich, but he declined it and as a reward was made personal full professor at the Breslau University including a considerable raise of his salary.
When he was offered the chair of pediatrics in the new Children's Hospital in Straßburg
in 1910 he accepted and worked there until 1913, when he became the successor of Otto Heubner
as full professor for pediatrics at the Berlin Charité
. For the next 19 years he worked there and - among other achievements - founded the international School of Pediatrics.
As professor emeritus he accepted a chair for pediatrics at the Medical Academy in Düsseldorf
, where he temporarily was head of the local Children's Hospital from 1934 to 1936.
Czerny was married and had one son Marianus (1896 –1985), who was a full professor for experimental physics in Frankfurt from 1938 to 1961.
Adalbert Czerny died on 3 October 1941 in Berlin und was buried in Pilsen.
and metabolic pathology
of neonates. During his time of work at the Berlin University Children's Hospital he carried on with research work on infant mortality
, as it had already been started by Heubner and gave it a scientific foundation. Together with his pupil and colleague Arthur Keller (1868–1934) he summarized the results of his Breslau work in 1906 in a two-volume manual "Des Kindes Ernährung, Ernährungsstörungen und Ernährungstherapie" (Children's nutrition, nutritional disturbance and therapeutic nutrition)– among experts simply known as the „Czerny-Keller“. Further editions were published in 1917 and 1928.
This work has basically determined the teaching of nutrition in pediatrics and as a result influenced the development of pediatrics itself up to the present. The term disorder of nutrition, which Czerny used, showed the relation between nutrition on the one and disease on the other hand. Czerny distinguished three groups of damages i. e. (a) due to nutrition, (b) due to infections and (c) due to physical constitution.
A second emphasis in his research work was the correlation between nutritional disturbance and the behaviour of the child. His repeatedly re-edited collection of lectures of 1908
"Der Arzt als Erzieher" ("The physician as an educator") shows this approach in its title.
were named after Czerny.
Adalbert Czerny (25 March 1863 – 3 October 1941 was a German pediatrician and is considered co-founder of modern pediatrics
. Several children's diseases were named after him.
and as of 1879 in Pilsen, where he
passed his Abitur
exam in 1882. He took up medical studies at the German Charles University in Prague
. He graduated with his doctoral thesis on a kidney disease in 1888 and took up clinical work as an assistant to Alois Epstein (1849–1918) at the "Findelanstalt" (hospital for foundlings), which was part of the Prague University Hospital.
In 1893, after his habilitation treatise in on glycogen and amaloid disorder and an appertaining lecture on the nutrition of newborns he received two offers for chairs of pediatrics in Innsbruck
and Breslau.He opted for Breslau and worked there until 1910.
In 1906 he was offered a position as full professor for pediatrics in Munich, but he declined it and as a reward was made personal full professor at the Breslau University including a considerable raise of his salary.
When he was offered the chair of pediatrics in the new Children's Hospital in Straßburg
in 1910 he accepted and worked there until 1913, when he became the successor of Otto Heubner
as full professor for pediatrics at the Berlin Charité
. For the next 19 years he worked there and - among other achievements - founded the international School of Pediatrics.
As professor emeritus he accepted a chair for pediatrics at the Medical Academy in Düsseldorf
, where he temporarily was head of the local Children's Hospital from 1934 to 1936.
Czerny was married and had one son Marianus (1896 –1985), who was a full professor for experimental physics in Frankfurt from 1938 to 1961.
Adalbert Czerny died on 3 October 1941 in Berlin und was buried in Pilsen.
and metabolic pathology
of neonates. During his time of work at the Berlin University Children's Hospital he carried on with research work on infant mortality
, as it had already been started by Heubner and gave it a scientific foundation. Together with his pupil and colleague Arthur Keller (1868–1934) he summarized the results of his Breslau work in 1906 in a two-volume manual "Des Kindes Ernährung, Ernährungsstörungen und Ernährungstherapie" (Children's nutrition, nutritional disturbance and therapeutic nutrition)– among experts simply known as the „Czerny-Keller“. Further editions were published in 1917 and 1928.
This work has basically determined the teaching of nutrition in pediatrics and as a result influenced the development of pediatrics itself up to the present. The term disorder of nutrition, which Czerny used, showed the relation between nutrition on the one and disease on the other hand. Czerny distinguished three groups of damages i. e. (a) due to nutrition, (b) due to infections and (c) due to physical constitution.
A second emphasis in his research work was the correlation between nutritional disturbance and the behaviour of the child. His repeatedly re-edited collection of lectures of 1908
"Der Arzt als Erzieher" ("The physician as an educator") shows this approach in its title.
were named after Czerny.
Adalbert Czerny (25 March 1863 – 3 October 1941 was a German pediatrician and is considered co-founder of modern pediatrics
Pediatrics
Pediatrics or paediatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents. A medical practitioner who specializes in this area is known as a pediatrician or paediatrician...
. Several children's diseases were named after him.
Education and career
Son of a railway engineer, Czerny grew up in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and as of 1879 in Pilsen, where he
passed his Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
exam in 1882. He took up medical studies at the German Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
. He graduated with his doctoral thesis on a kidney disease in 1888 and took up clinical work as an assistant to Alois Epstein (1849–1918) at the "Findelanstalt" (hospital for foundlings), which was part of the Prague University Hospital.
In 1893, after his habilitation treatise in on glycogen and amaloid disorder and an appertaining lecture on the nutrition of newborns he received two offers for chairs of pediatrics in Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
and Breslau.He opted for Breslau and worked there until 1910.
In 1906 he was offered a position as full professor for pediatrics in Munich, but he declined it and as a reward was made personal full professor at the Breslau University including a considerable raise of his salary.
When he was offered the chair of pediatrics in the new Children's Hospital in Straßburg
Strasburg
-Places:*Strasbourg, a city in Alsace *Straßburg, Austria, in Carinthia*Strasburg, Germany, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania*the former name of Brodnica, became Polish after World War I*Strassburg, the German name for Aiud, Alba...
in 1910 he accepted and worked there until 1913, when he became the successor of Otto Heubner
Otto Heubner
Johann Otto Leonhard Heubner was a German internist and pediatrician who was a native of Mühltroff....
as full professor for pediatrics at the Berlin Charité
Charité
The Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin is the medical school for both the Humboldt University and the Free University of Berlin. After the merger with their fourth campus in 2003, the Charité is one of the largest university hospitals in Europe....
. For the next 19 years he worked there and - among other achievements - founded the international School of Pediatrics.
As professor emeritus he accepted a chair for pediatrics at the Medical Academy in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, where he temporarily was head of the local Children's Hospital from 1934 to 1936.
Czerny was married and had one son Marianus (1896 –1985), who was a full professor for experimental physics in Frankfurt from 1938 to 1961.
Adalbert Czerny died on 3 October 1941 in Berlin und was buried in Pilsen.
Achievements as co-founder of modern pediatrics
The school founded by Czerny was mainly concerned with nutrition physiologyNutrition physiology
Nutrition physiology deals with different types of food and their effects on the metabolism. One topic of nutrition physiology is vitamin loss of frozen foods. Another topic is the calculation of required calories per day and what sort of food should best be avoided for a healthy lifestyle....
and metabolic pathology
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
of neonates. During his time of work at the Berlin University Children's Hospital he carried on with research work on infant mortality
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
, as it had already been started by Heubner and gave it a scientific foundation. Together with his pupil and colleague Arthur Keller (1868–1934) he summarized the results of his Breslau work in 1906 in a two-volume manual "Des Kindes Ernährung, Ernährungsstörungen und Ernährungstherapie" (Children's nutrition, nutritional disturbance and therapeutic nutrition)– among experts simply known as the „Czerny-Keller“. Further editions were published in 1917 and 1928.
This work has basically determined the teaching of nutrition in pediatrics and as a result influenced the development of pediatrics itself up to the present. The term disorder of nutrition, which Czerny used, showed the relation between nutrition on the one and disease on the other hand. Czerny distinguished three groups of damages i. e. (a) due to nutrition, (b) due to infections and (c) due to physical constitution.
A second emphasis in his research work was the correlation between nutritional disturbance and the behaviour of the child. His repeatedly re-edited collection of lectures of 1908
"Der Arzt als Erzieher" ("The physician as an educator") shows this approach in its title.
Discoverer of new clinical symptoms in pediatrics
Children's diseases such as- nutritional anemiaAnemiaAnemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...
in neonates (Czerny-Anemia) - lymphatic−exudativeExudateAn exudate is any fluid that filters from the circulatory system into lesions or areas of inflammation. It can apply to plants as well as animals. Its composition varies but generally includes water and the dissolved solutes of the main circulatory fluid such as sap or blood...
diathesis (Czerny−diathesis), a clinical entity, which Czerny clearly distinguished from scrofulaScrofulaTuberculous cervical lymphadenitis refers to a lymphadenitis of the cervical lymph nodes associated with tuberculosis. It was previously known as "scrofula".-The disease:...
and consequently from tuberculosisTuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
What he described is an individual disposition to increased sensitivity of the skin and the mucusMucusIn vertebrates, mucus is a slippery secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. Mucous fluid is typically produced from mucous cells found in mucous glands. Mucous cells secrete products that are rich in glycoproteins and water. Mucous fluid may also originate from mixed glands, which...
. - paradox respiration (Czerny-respiration)
were named after Czerny.
Acknowledgements and posthumous honours
The German Association of Children's and Juvenile Medicine (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin - DGKJ) , which was founded in 1883, annually awards the "Adalbert-Czerny Preis" (Adalbert-Czerny Award). The award was started in 1963 (the 100th anniversary of Czerny' birth)and goes to persons with outstanding scientific achievements in pediatrics.Literature and footnotes
- Wolfgang U. Eckart & Christoph Gradman: Ärzte-Lexikon Springer, 3. ed. Heidelberg 2006 p. 90 ISBN 978-3540295846
- Rolf Schmoeger: Adalbert Czerny (1863-1941) Mitbegründer der wissenschaftlichen Kinderheilkunde Berlin 2003 ISBN 978-3-937343-36-5 = Schmoeger (2003) (note: this book has no proper page numbering, but contains a number of interesting illustrations)
- Hans Kleinschmidt: Zum siebzigsten Geburtstage von Adalbert Czerny am 25. März 1933 in: Klinische Wochenschrift 12 (1933) p. 486f. also available as PDF-File
External links
Adalbert Czerny (25 March 1863 – 3 October 1941 was a German pediatrician and is considered co-founder of modern pediatrics
Pediatrics
Pediatrics or paediatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents. A medical practitioner who specializes in this area is known as a pediatrician or paediatrician...
. Several children's diseases were named after him.
Education and career
Son of a railway engineer, Czerny grew up in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and as of 1879 in Pilsen, where he
passed his Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
exam in 1882. He took up medical studies at the German Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
. He graduated with his doctoral thesis on a kidney disease in 1888 and took up clinical work as an assistant to Alois Epstein (1849–1918) at the "Findelanstalt" (hospital for foundlings), which was part of the Prague University Hospital.
In 1893, after his habilitation treatise in on glycogen and amaloid disorder and an appertaining lecture on the nutrition of newborns he received two offers for chairs of pediatrics in Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
and Breslau.He opted for Breslau and worked there until 1910.
In 1906 he was offered a position as full professor for pediatrics in Munich, but he declined it and as a reward was made personal full professor at the Breslau University including a considerable raise of his salary.
When he was offered the chair of pediatrics in the new Children's Hospital in Straßburg
Strasburg
-Places:*Strasbourg, a city in Alsace *Straßburg, Austria, in Carinthia*Strasburg, Germany, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania*the former name of Brodnica, became Polish after World War I*Strassburg, the German name for Aiud, Alba...
in 1910 he accepted and worked there until 1913, when he became the successor of Otto Heubner
Otto Heubner
Johann Otto Leonhard Heubner was a German internist and pediatrician who was a native of Mühltroff....
as full professor for pediatrics at the Berlin Charité
Charité
The Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin is the medical school for both the Humboldt University and the Free University of Berlin. After the merger with their fourth campus in 2003, the Charité is one of the largest university hospitals in Europe....
. For the next 19 years he worked there and - among other achievements - founded the international School of Pediatrics.
As professor emeritus he accepted a chair for pediatrics at the Medical Academy in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, where he temporarily was head of the local Children's Hospital from 1934 to 1936.
Czerny was married and had one son Marianus (1896 –1985), who was a full professor for experimental physics in Frankfurt from 1938 to 1961.
Adalbert Czerny died on 3 October 1941 in Berlin und was buried in Pilsen.
Achievements as co-founder of modern pediatrics
The school founded by Czerny was mainly concerned with nutrition physiologyNutrition physiology
Nutrition physiology deals with different types of food and their effects on the metabolism. One topic of nutrition physiology is vitamin loss of frozen foods. Another topic is the calculation of required calories per day and what sort of food should best be avoided for a healthy lifestyle....
and metabolic pathology
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
of neonates. During his time of work at the Berlin University Children's Hospital he carried on with research work on infant mortality
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
, as it had already been started by Heubner and gave it a scientific foundation. Together with his pupil and colleague Arthur Keller (1868–1934) he summarized the results of his Breslau work in 1906 in a two-volume manual "Des Kindes Ernährung, Ernährungsstörungen und Ernährungstherapie" (Children's nutrition, nutritional disturbance and therapeutic nutrition)– among experts simply known as the „Czerny-Keller“. Further editions were published in 1917 and 1928.
This work has basically determined the teaching of nutrition in pediatrics and as a result influenced the development of pediatrics itself up to the present. The term disorder of nutrition, which Czerny used, showed the relation between nutrition on the one and disease on the other hand. Czerny distinguished three groups of damages i. e. (a) due to nutrition, (b) due to infections and (c) due to physical constitution.
A second emphasis in his research work was the correlation between nutritional disturbance and the behaviour of the child. His repeatedly re-edited collection of lectures of 1908
"Der Arzt als Erzieher" ("The physician as an educator") shows this approach in its title.
Discoverer of new clinical symptoms in pediatrics
Children's diseases such as- nutritional anemiaAnemiaAnemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...
in neonates (Czerny-Anemia) - lymphatic−exudativeExudateAn exudate is any fluid that filters from the circulatory system into lesions or areas of inflammation. It can apply to plants as well as animals. Its composition varies but generally includes water and the dissolved solutes of the main circulatory fluid such as sap or blood...
diathesis (Czerny−diathesis), a clinical entity, which Czerny clearly distinguished from scrofulaScrofulaTuberculous cervical lymphadenitis refers to a lymphadenitis of the cervical lymph nodes associated with tuberculosis. It was previously known as "scrofula".-The disease:...
and consequently from tuberculosisTuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
What he described is an individual disposition to increased sensitivity of the skin and the mucusMucusIn vertebrates, mucus is a slippery secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. Mucous fluid is typically produced from mucous cells found in mucous glands. Mucous cells secrete products that are rich in glycoproteins and water. Mucous fluid may also originate from mixed glands, which...
. - paradox respiration (Czerny-respiration)
were named after Czerny.
Acknowledgements and posthumous honours
The German Association of Children's and Juvenile Medicine (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin - DGKJ) , which was founded in 1883, annually awards the "Adalbert-Czerny Preis" (Adalbert-Czerny Award). The award was started in 1963 (the 100th anniversary of Czerny' birth)and goes to persons with outstanding scientific achievements in pediatrics.Literature and footnotes
- Wolfgang U. Eckart & Christoph Gradman: Ärzte-Lexikon Springer, 3. ed. Heidelberg 2006 p. 90 ISBN 978-3540295846
- Rolf Schmoeger: Adalbert Czerny (1863-1941) Mitbegründer der wissenschaftlichen Kinderheilkunde Berlin 2003 ISBN 978-3-937343-36-5 = Schmoeger (2003) (note: this book has no proper page numbering, but contains a number of interesting illustrations)
- Hans Kleinschmidt: Zum siebzigsten Geburtstage von Adalbert Czerny am 25. März 1933 in: Klinische Wochenschrift 12 (1933) p. 486f. also available as PDF-File
External links
Adalbert Czerny (25 March 1863 – 3 October 1941 was a German pediatrician and is considered co-founder of modern pediatrics
Pediatrics
Pediatrics or paediatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents. A medical practitioner who specializes in this area is known as a pediatrician or paediatrician...
. Several children's diseases were named after him.
Education and career
Son of a railway engineer, Czerny grew up in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and as of 1879 in Pilsen, where he
passed his Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
exam in 1882. He took up medical studies at the German Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
. He graduated with his doctoral thesis on a kidney disease in 1888 and took up clinical work as an assistant to Alois Epstein (1849–1918) at the "Findelanstalt" (hospital for foundlings), which was part of the Prague University Hospital.
In 1893, after his habilitation treatise in on glycogen and amaloid disorder and an appertaining lecture on the nutrition of newborns he received two offers for chairs of pediatrics in Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
and Breslau.He opted for Breslau and worked there until 1910.
In 1906 he was offered a position as full professor for pediatrics in Munich, but he declined it and as a reward was made personal full professor at the Breslau University including a considerable raise of his salary.
When he was offered the chair of pediatrics in the new Children's Hospital in Straßburg
Strasburg
-Places:*Strasbourg, a city in Alsace *Straßburg, Austria, in Carinthia*Strasburg, Germany, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania*the former name of Brodnica, became Polish after World War I*Strassburg, the German name for Aiud, Alba...
in 1910 he accepted and worked there until 1913, when he became the successor of Otto Heubner
Otto Heubner
Johann Otto Leonhard Heubner was a German internist and pediatrician who was a native of Mühltroff....
as full professor for pediatrics at the Berlin Charité
Charité
The Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin is the medical school for both the Humboldt University and the Free University of Berlin. After the merger with their fourth campus in 2003, the Charité is one of the largest university hospitals in Europe....
. For the next 19 years he worked there and - among other achievements - founded the international School of Pediatrics.
As professor emeritus he accepted a chair for pediatrics at the Medical Academy in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, where he temporarily was head of the local Children's Hospital from 1934 to 1936.
Czerny was married and had one son Marianus (1896 –1985), who was a full professor for experimental physics in Frankfurt from 1938 to 1961.
Adalbert Czerny died on 3 October 1941 in Berlin und was buried in Pilsen.
Achievements as co-founder of modern pediatrics
The school founded by Czerny was mainly concerned with nutrition physiologyNutrition physiology
Nutrition physiology deals with different types of food and their effects on the metabolism. One topic of nutrition physiology is vitamin loss of frozen foods. Another topic is the calculation of required calories per day and what sort of food should best be avoided for a healthy lifestyle....
and metabolic pathology
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
of neonates. During his time of work at the Berlin University Children's Hospital he carried on with research work on infant mortality
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
, as it had already been started by Heubner and gave it a scientific foundation. Together with his pupil and colleague Arthur Keller (1868–1934) he summarized the results of his Breslau work in 1906 in a two-volume manual "Des Kindes Ernährung, Ernährungsstörungen und Ernährungstherapie" (Children's nutrition, nutritional disturbance and therapeutic nutrition)– among experts simply known as the „Czerny-Keller“. Further editions were published in 1917 and 1928.
This work has basically determined the teaching of nutrition in pediatrics and as a result influenced the development of pediatrics itself up to the present. The term disorder of nutrition, which Czerny used, showed the relation between nutrition on the one and disease on the other hand. Czerny distinguished three groups of damages i. e. (a) due to nutrition, (b) due to infections and (c) due to physical constitution.
A second emphasis in his research work was the correlation between nutritional disturbance and the behaviour of the child. His repeatedly re-edited collection of lectures of 1908
"Der Arzt als Erzieher" ("The physician as an educator") shows this approach in its title.
Discoverer of new clinical symptoms in pediatrics
Children's diseases such as- nutritional anemiaAnemiaAnemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...
in neonates (Czerny-Anemia) - lymphatic−exudativeExudateAn exudate is any fluid that filters from the circulatory system into lesions or areas of inflammation. It can apply to plants as well as animals. Its composition varies but generally includes water and the dissolved solutes of the main circulatory fluid such as sap or blood...
diathesis (Czerny−diathesis), a clinical entity, which Czerny clearly distinguished from scrofulaScrofulaTuberculous cervical lymphadenitis refers to a lymphadenitis of the cervical lymph nodes associated with tuberculosis. It was previously known as "scrofula".-The disease:...
and consequently from tuberculosisTuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
What he described is an individual disposition to increased sensitivity of the skin and the mucusMucusIn vertebrates, mucus is a slippery secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. Mucous fluid is typically produced from mucous cells found in mucous glands. Mucous cells secrete products that are rich in glycoproteins and water. Mucous fluid may also originate from mixed glands, which...
. - paradox respiration (Czerny-respiration)
were named after Czerny.
Acknowledgements and posthumous honours
The German Association of Children's and Juvenile Medicine (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin - DGKJ) , which was founded in 1883, annually awards the "Adalbert-Czerny Preis" (Adalbert-Czerny Award). The award was started in 1963 (the 100th anniversary of Czerny' birth)and goes to persons with outstanding scientific achievements in pediatrics.Literature and footnotes
- Wolfgang U. Eckart & Christoph Gradman: Ärzte-Lexikon Springer, 3. ed. Heidelberg 2006 p. 90 ISBN 978-3540295846
- Rolf Schmoeger: Adalbert Czerny (1863-1941) Mitbegründer der wissenschaftlichen Kinderheilkunde Berlin 2003 ISBN 978-3-937343-36-5 = Schmoeger (2003) (note: this book has no proper page numbering, but contains a number of interesting illustrations)
- Hans Kleinschmidt: Zum siebzigsten Geburtstage von Adalbert Czerny am 25. März 1933 in: Klinische Wochenschrift 12 (1933) p. 486f. also available as PDF-File
External links