Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Frank Wollheim

  • Jöns Jacob Berzelius: physician, scientist, and globetrotter

    Frank WollheimSweden Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779-1848) was not only the enigmatic Swedish chemist of his time but also an accomplished medical doctor, active humanitarian, co-founder of the Karolinska Institute, and secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for thirty years. He also mastered the pen, leaving 7000 letters, several books, diaries, and an autobiography.1…

  • Joseph Roth, a visionary poet and victim of European history

    Frank WollheimSweden Joseph Roth was born on 2 September 1894 in Brody, then a Galician town in the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, bordering Russia. His parents married in 1892 and like two thirds of the 20,000 inhabitants were Hassidic Jews. His mother Maria came from a family of merchants. His father worked for a timber trading company…

  • A tale of two cities: Swedish roots of electrophoresis

    Frank WollheimLund, Sweden My title refers to two Swedish hospitals: one in Uppsala with its old and famous university, the other in Malmö, where academic activity started only in 1950 but soon acquired fame thanks to some charismatic leaders. My teachers, Jan Waldenström and Carl-Bertil Laurell, both started training in Uppsala, but crowned their career…

  • Surgeon and ambassador of the humanities: Homage à Grace and Philip Sandblom

    Frank Wollheim I realized early on in medical school that I had no talent to become a surgeon. Yet I remember the professor of surgery in Lund, Philip Sandblom (1903-2001), as one of my most significant teachers and introducers to the humanities.  The seventh term of our curriculum was entirely devoted to a clerkship in…