Denmark - Conditions of Life - Health

Denmark
3.Conditions of Life
3.7 Health

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Johannes Fibiger
Niels Ryberg Finsen
Niels K. Jerne
August Krogh
Jens Christian Skou

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Niels Ryberg Finsen, 1860-1904, Danish physician. As a young man, Finsen already suffered from a serious heart condition, which meant that he had to give up any thought of practising after qualifying in 1890. He was appointed assistant lecturer in anatomy at Copenhagen University, where he started some highly successful research into the effect of light on certain skin diseases. In 1893 he attracted attention in Denmark with a dissertation on red light and its beneficial effect on smallpox. Two years later, Finsen made the great breakthrough that established his international reputation by introducing the revolutionary carbon arc treatment (Finsen's Therapy) of lupus (lupus vulgaris). The following year he established a light institute, subsequently The Finsen Institute, in Copenhagen. In 1898 he became a titular professor. Finsen was the first Danish doctor to receive the Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine, in 1903, for his unique research into treatment with ultraviolet rays.
Johannes Brix
The Royal Library

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