Georg Friedrich Nicolai
Encyclopedia
Georg Friedrich Nicolai (born: Lewinstein) (1874-1964) was a German physiologist who studied at the University of Berlin, and later practiced medicine at the 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....

 in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. He admired the works of physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, and with internist Friedrich Kraus
Friedrich Kraus
Friedrich Kraus was a Jewish Austrian internist. He is remembered for his achievements in the field of electrocardiography and his work in colloid chemistry.- Academic career :...

 published a book on electrocardiography titled Das Elektrokardiogramm des gesunden und kranken Menschen.

Biography

He was born in 1874 in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

.

In 1914, at the onset of World War I, Nicolai composed an anti-war treatise called Manifesto to the Europeans. Only three other intellectuals in Germany signed Nicolai's manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...

; they being physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...

, astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...

 Wilhelm Julius Förster and philosopher Otto Buek
Otto Buek
Otto Buek was a German philosopher and translator born in St. Petersburg.He studied philosophy, chemistry and mathematics at the University of Heidelberg, and obtained his doctorate from the University of Marburg. Later he worked as a journalist in Berlin, where he translated works of Tolstoy,...

.

During the war he published The Biology of War, an indictment of warfare which was translated into several languages.
As a result, he was demoted and sent to the remote Tucheler Heide, Westprussia (Tuchola Forest
Tuchola Forest
The Tuchola Forest is a large forest near the town of Tuchola in northern Poland, and lies between the Brda and Wda Rivers. It contains the Tuchola Forest National Park, which is at the core of the Tuchola Forest Biosphere Reserve, designated by UNESCO in 2010.- Landscape :The area was formed...

) area. The Biology of War was praised by Romain Rolland
Romain Rolland
Romain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.-Biography:...

, who became a friend of Nicolai.

In 1922 he emigrated to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 where he worked and taught in Argentina, and later Chile.

In the 1930s he wrote Das Natzenbuch (A Natural History of National Socialist Movement and of Nationalism in General), in which he denounces nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

 as "one of the greatest, possibly greatest danger to the further development of the human race".

He died on 1964 in Santiago de Chile.

Literature

  • Herbert Gantschacher
    Herbert Gantschacher
    Herbert Gantschacher is an Austrian director and producer and writer.- Education :...

    (editor) "Theatre Form as an Articulated Way of Life" including essays of Hubert Steiner(Vienna), Katharina Rostock(Berlin), Jean-Jacques Van Vlasselaer(Ottawa), Marjan Bevk(Bovec), Erich Heyduck(Vienna) and Brenda Harker(Oakland) in "The Unifying Aspects of Cultures" - TRANS-Studien Bd. 1 LIT, Vienna-Berlin 2004; ISBN 3-8258-7616-0
  • Herbert Gantschacher "Witness and Victim of The Apocalypse" - ARBOS, Vienna-Salzburg-Arnoldstein 2007

Sources

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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