Rudolph Bergh
Encyclopedia
Rudolph Bergh full name Ludvig Sophus Rudolph Bergh, was a Danish
physician
and malacologist. He worked in Copenhagen
.
As a doctor his speciality was sexually transmitted disease
s. In Copenhagen a hospital and a street are named after him.
Bergh was also an active malacologist, i.e. a zoologist who studies molluscs, in particular the nudibranch
s, shell-less marine
gastropods. He had well over 90 publications in this field and took part in a scientific expedition to Indonesia
. He named and described numerous species of nudibranchs.
Dr. Rudolph Bergh became an attending physician
at what was then Almindeligt Hospital, the general hospital in Amaliegade
, Copenhagen, in 1863. He worked in the department of skin diseases and venereal diseases. In 1886 he moved from there to Vestre Hospital, where he worked until 1903.
Bergh died in 1909. One year after his death, Vestre Hospital was renamed Rudolph Bergh Hospital in honor of his memory. At that hospital, anyone who wished to could be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, and get advice on safe sex
and birth control
without any change and while retaining their anonymity. In 2000, some of these functions were transferred to Bispebjerg Hospital
.
There is a bust of Bergh in Copenhagen
, in front of the eponymous "Rudolph Bergh's Hospital", on Tietgensgade. The bust was a gift from his colleagues and stood for years in his home. After his death Bergh's widow donated it to the hospital.
Bergh was awarded a knighthood of the Third Class Order (Ridder af Dannebrog) of Order of the Dannebrog
and also the Dannebrogordenens Hæderstegn
(Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog).
In Copenhagen there is a street named in honor of him: Rudolph Berghs Gade (in English: Rudolph Bergh's Street) in Ydre Østerbro
.
His son Rudolph Sophus Bergh
(September 22, 1859 - December 7, 1924) was a zoologist and a composer
.
s. Among the many texts that Rudolph Bergh wrote was About Tattoos in the public woman, which was published in the Hospital Journal in 1891. The work is about connections between prostitution
, crime
and tattoos. The article seems antiquated today and should not be taken as the sole expression of Rudolph Bergh great efforts to improve public health and in particular reduce the harmful effects of sexually transmitted diseases.
Bergh was also one of the editors of the hospital magazine Hospitalstidende, where he published nearly all of his over 50 medical articles.
Bergh R. (1891). "Om Tatoveringer hos de offentlige Fruentimmer". (in English: About Tattoos in the public woman) Særtryk af "Hospitals-Tidende". Copenhagen.
, a Danish biologist
who was 11 years older than he was and who was a professor of zoology at the University of Copenhagen
.
He wrote reports of the Challenger expedition
(1884) and the Albatross
expedition (1894). He took part in the "Siboga Expedition
" in 1905, exploring the waters of Indonesia.
Bergh became the world's leading expert on nudibranch
s. He wrote his main malacological works as well as over 90 malacological articles and papers. Among other notable works are his work about the anatomy of the radula
of the genus Conus
(1896). His malacological drawing are considered to be "excellent". He was mainly anatomist and reached great progress in systematics based on anatomy of nervous system
and of reproductive system of gastropods
. Bergh was very active in naming and describing species of nudibranchs and other sea slugs. The species he named include:
The nudibranch genus Berghia
was named after him by Salvatore Trinchese in 1877.
His colleague and friend was German ethnologist and animal ecologist Carl Semper
.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and malacologist. He worked in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
.
As a doctor his speciality was sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...
s. In Copenhagen a hospital and a street are named after him.
Bergh was also an active malacologist, i.e. a zoologist who studies molluscs, in particular the nudibranch
Nudibranch
A nudibranch is a member of what is now a taxonomic clade, and what was previously a suborder, of soft-bodied, marine gastropod mollusks which shed their shell after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colors and striking forms...
s, shell-less marine
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...
gastropods. He had well over 90 publications in this field and took part in a scientific expedition to Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. He named and described numerous species of nudibranchs.
Biography
Rudolph Bergh was born in Copenhagen. His father was the son of the chief physician in the army of Louis Anton Berg. His mother was Anne Sophie Kirstine (maiden name Pedersen). Bergh graduated from the Det von Westenske Institut in 1842, and received his medical degree in 1849.Dr. Rudolph Bergh became an attending physician
Attending physician
In the United States, an attending physician is a physician who has completed residency and practices medicine in a clinic or hospital, in the specialty learned during residency. An attending physician can supervise fellows, residents, and medical students...
at what was then Almindeligt Hospital, the general hospital in Amaliegade
Amaliegade
Amaliegade is a street in central Copenhagen, Denmark, which makes up the longer of the two axes on which the Rococo district Frederiksstaden is centred...
, Copenhagen, in 1863. He worked in the department of skin diseases and venereal diseases. In 1886 he moved from there to Vestre Hospital, where he worked until 1903.
Bergh died in 1909. One year after his death, Vestre Hospital was renamed Rudolph Bergh Hospital in honor of his memory. At that hospital, anyone who wished to could be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, and get advice on safe sex
Safe sex
Safe sex is sexual activity engaged in by people who have taken precautions to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. It is also referred to as safer sex or protected sex, while unsafe or unprotected sex is sexual activity engaged in without precautions...
and birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
without any change and while retaining their anonymity. In 2000, some of these functions were transferred to Bispebjerg Hospital
Bispebjerg Hospital
Bispebjerg Hospital is one of the hospitals in the Capital Region of Denmark. Along with a number of other hospitals and the University of Copenhagen , Bispebjerg Hospital forms part of the Copenhagen University Hospital....
.
There is a bust of Bergh in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, in front of the eponymous "Rudolph Bergh's Hospital", on Tietgensgade. The bust was a gift from his colleagues and stood for years in his home. After his death Bergh's widow donated it to the hospital.
Bergh was awarded a knighthood of the Third Class Order (Ridder af Dannebrog) of Order of the Dannebrog
Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog is an Order of Denmark, instituted in 1671 by Christian V. It resulted from a move in 1660 to break the absolutism of the nobility. The Order was only to comprise 50 noble Knights in one class plus the Master of the Order, i.e. the Danish monarch, and his sons...
and also the Dannebrogordenens Hæderstegn
Dannebrogordenens Hæderstegn
Dannebrogordenens Hæderstegn is a meritous award connected to the Danish Order of the Dannebrog...
(Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog).
In Copenhagen there is a street named in honor of him: Rudolph Berghs Gade (in English: Rudolph Bergh's Street) in Ydre Østerbro
Ydre Østerbro
Ydre Østerbro is an area in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the part of the district of Østerbro located farthest from the City Centre. It lies on the northeast border of the municipality...
.
His son Rudolph Sophus Bergh
Rudolph Sophus Bergh
Rudolph Sophus Bergh was a Danish composer and zoologist. He was the son of physician and zoologist Rudolph Bergh. He received his general education at the Metropolitanskolen and then studied music at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and zoology at the University of Copenhagen...
(September 22, 1859 - December 7, 1924) was a zoologist and a composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
As a physician
His medical specialization was sexually transmitted diseaseSexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...
s. Among the many texts that Rudolph Bergh wrote was About Tattoos in the public woman, which was published in the Hospital Journal in 1891. The work is about connections between prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
and tattoos. The article seems antiquated today and should not be taken as the sole expression of Rudolph Bergh great efforts to improve public health and in particular reduce the harmful effects of sexually transmitted diseases.
Bergh was also one of the editors of the hospital magazine Hospitalstidende, where he published nearly all of his over 50 medical articles.
Bergh R. (1891). "Om Tatoveringer hos de offentlige Fruentimmer". (in English: About Tattoos in the public woman) Særtryk af "Hospitals-Tidende". Copenhagen.
As a zoologist
Bergh started to study molluscs when he was nearly 30, probably under the influence of Japetus SteenstrupJapetus Steenstrup
Johannes Japetus Smith Steenstrup was a Danish zoologist, biologist, and professor.He was a professor of zoology at the University of Copenhagen...
, a Danish biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
who was 11 years older than he was and who was a professor of zoology at the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
.
He wrote reports of the Challenger expedition
Challenger expedition
The Challenger expedition of 1872–76 was a scientific exercise that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography. The expedition was named after the mother vessel, HMS Challenger....
(1884) and the Albatross
USS Albatross (1882)
The second USS Albatross, often seen as USFC Albatross in scientific literature citations, was an iron-hulled, twin-screw steamer in the United States Navy and reputedly the first vessel ever built especially for marine research....
expedition (1894). He took part in the "Siboga Expedition
Siboga Expedition
The Siboga Expedition was a scientific Dutch zoological and hydrographical expedition to Indonesia from March 1899 to February 1900.The leader of the expedition was Max Carl Wilhelm Weber. Other members of the crew were his wife and algologist Anna Weber-van Bosse, the zoologist and first assistant...
" in 1905, exploring the waters of Indonesia.
Bergh became the world's leading expert on nudibranch
Nudibranch
A nudibranch is a member of what is now a taxonomic clade, and what was previously a suborder, of soft-bodied, marine gastropod mollusks which shed their shell after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colors and striking forms...
s. He wrote his main malacological works as well as over 90 malacological articles and papers. Among other notable works are his work about the anatomy of the radula
Radula
The radula is an anatomical structure that is used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared rather inaccurately to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters the esophagus...
of the genus Conus
Conus
Conus is a large genus of small to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs, with the common names of cone snails, cone shells or cones. This genus is placed in the subfamily Coninae within the family Conidae. Geologically speaking, the genus is known from the Eocene to the Recent ...
(1896). His malacological drawing are considered to be "excellent". He was mainly anatomist and reached great progress in systematics based on anatomy of nervous system
Nervous system of gastropods
The nervous system of gastropods consists of a series of paired ganglia connected by major nerve cords, and a number of smaller branching peripheral nerves.The brain of a gastropod consists of three pairs of ganglia, all located close to the oesophagus...
and of reproductive system of gastropods
Reproductive system of gastropods
The reproductive system of gastropods varies greatly from one group to another within this very large and diverse taxonomic class of animals...
. Bergh was very active in naming and describing species of nudibranchs and other sea slugs. The species he named include:
- Armina semperiArmina semperiArmina semperi is a species of sea slug, a nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Arminidae.-Description:This species can be identified by the thin black and white ridges that run longitudinally down its back...
(Bergh, 1861) - Chromodoris annaeChromodoris annaeChromodoris annae is a species of sea slug, a very colorful nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae.-Description:...
Bergh, 1877 - Chromodoris dalli (Bergh, 1879) http://64.233.169.132/search?q=cache:30O4jMWdlkQJ:www.seaslug.com/Resources/on23-03.PDF+chromodoris+dalli&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us&client=safari
- Chromodoris elisabethinaChromodoris elisabethinaChromodoris elisabethina is a species of very colorful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae....
(Bergh, 1877) - Chromodoris morchii Bergh, 1879 http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=78256
- Chromodoris punctilucens Bergh, 1890 http://www.malacolog.org/search.php?nameid=8543
- Thuridilla lineolata Bergh, 1905 http://slugsite.us/bow/nudiwkps/nudiwk21.html
- Phyllodesmium briareumPhyllodesmium briareumPhyllodesmium briareum is a species of sea slug, an aolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Facelinidae.- Distribution :The distribution of Phyllodesmium briareum includes Indo-Pacific and Australia.- Description :...
(Bergh, 1896) - Phyllodesmium longicirrumPhyllodesmium longicirrumPhyllodesmium longicirrum is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Facelinidae.- Distribution :The distribution of Phyllodesmium longicirrum includes Australia and Indonesia.- Ecology :...
(Bergh, 1905)
The nudibranch genus Berghia
Berghia
Berghia is a genus of marine nudibranch in the family Aeolidiidae.-Species:Species in the genus Berghia include:* Berghia coerulescens * Berghia columbina...
was named after him by Salvatore Trinchese in 1877.
His colleague and friend was German ethnologist and animal ecologist Carl Semper
Carl Semper
Carl Gottfried Semper was a German ethnologist and animal ecologist. He achieved a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Würzburg in 1856. He traveled to the Philippines and Palau two years later, staying in the region until 1865 in association with Museum Godeffroy...
.
Further reading
- Petersen J. & Colin J. (1888). "Bergh, Ludvig Sophus Rudolf, f. 1824". Dansk biografisk lexicon, tillige omfattende Norge for tidsrummet 1537-1814, Kjøbenhavn. 2: 113-115.
- Dall W. H. (1909). "Ludwig Rudolph Sophus Bergh". Science 30(766): 304.
- Vayssière A. (1910). "Nécrologie. Rudolph Bergh". Journal de Conchyliologie 58(1): 110-119. (include portrait and signature)
- Winckworth R. (1946). "On Bergh’s Malacologische Untersuchungen". Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London 27(1): 20-22.
- Burn R. (1978). "Publication dates of Bergh’s 1879 papers describing American chromodorids". The Veliger 20(3): 198-299.
- Jensen K. R. (2006). "The type collection of specimens described by Rudolf Bergh and housed in the Zoological Museum, CopenhagenUniversity of Copenhagen Zoological MuseumThe Copenhagen Zoological Museum is a part of the Natural History Museum of Denmark which consist of four natural science museums.The permanent exhibition 'From pole to pole' show animals from around the world in big displays...
". 72nd Annual Meeting of the) American Malacological Society, Abstracts and Program: 52. (abstract)