Justus Friedrich Karl Hecker (5 January 1795, in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

– 11 May 1850, in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) was a German physician and medical writer, whose works appear in medical encyclopaedias and journals of the time. He particularly studied disease in relation to human history, including plague,

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

infant mortality Infant mortality is the death of an infant before the infant's first birthday. The occurrence of infant mortality in a population can be described by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the number of deaths of infants under one year of age ...

dancing mania Dancing mania (also known as dancing plague, choreomania, St. John's Dance, tarantism and St. Vitus' Dance) was a social phenomenon that may have had biological causes, which occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centu ...

and the

sweating sickness Sweating sickness, also known as the sweats, English sweating sickness, English sweat or ''sudor anglicus'' in Latin, was a mysterious and contagious disease that struck England and later continental Europe in a series of epidemics beginning i ...

, and is often said to have founded the study of the history of disease.

Life

His father August Friedrich Hecker (1763–1811) was also a physician. In 1805, when Justus was 10, the family moved from Justus's birthplace of Erfurt to Berlin, and Justus later studied medicine at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

, graduating in 1817 and becoming a

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

and then (in 1822) Extraordinary Professor. In 1834, he became the university's "ordinary professor" for the History of Medicine. He also cooperated with the professors of the "Medical Faculty of Berlin" on the encyclopaedic dictionary of the medical sciences.

Selected works

*Geschichte der Heilkunde. Nach den Quellen bearbeitet. 2 in 1 Bd. Berlin: Enslin, 1822–1829 (History of Medicine, produced from the sources, from 2000 BC to the downfall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453) *Die Tanzwuth, eine Volkskrankheit im Mittelalter: nach den Quellen für Aerzte und gebildete Nichtärzte bearbeitet. (The

Dancing Mania Dancing mania (also known as dancing plague, choreomania, St. John's Dance, tarantism and St. Vitus' Dance) was a social phenomenon that may have had biological causes, which occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centu ...

, an epidemic of the Middle Ages: from the sources by physicians and non-physicians) Berlin: Enslin, 1832 *Der schwarze Tod im vierzehnten Jahrhundert: Nach den Quellen für Ärzte und gebildete Nichtärzte bearbeitet. (The

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

in the 14th century: from the sources by physicians and non-physicians) Berlin: Herbig, 1832 *Ueber die Volkskrankheiten. Eine Rede. (On Epidemics: A Speech) Berlin: Enslin, 1832 *Der englische Schweiss. Ein ärztlicher Beitrag zur Geschichte des fünfzehnten und sechszehnten Jahrhunderts. (The

Sweating Sickness Sweating sickness, also known as the sweats, English sweating sickness, English sweat or ''sudor anglicus'' in Latin, was a mysterious and contagious disease that struck England and later continental Europe in a series of epidemics beginning i ...

: A medical contribution to the story of the fifteenth and six tenth century.) Berlin 1834 *Kinderfahrten : eine historisch-pathologische Skizze. (Infant-Mortality: A Historical-Pathological Sketch) Berlin: Schade, 1845 *Ueber Visionen : Eine Vorlesung gehalten im wissenschaftlichen Verein zu Berlin am 29. Januar 1848. (On visions: A lecture in Berlin to the Berlin scientific society on 29 January 1848) Berlin: Enslin, 1848 *Die großen Volkskrankheiten des Mittelalters. Historisch-pathologische Untersuchungen. Gesammelt und in erweiterter Bearbeitung herausgegeben von Dr.

August Hirsch August Hirsch (4 October 1817, Danzig – 28 January 1894, Berlin) was a German physician and medical historian. Biography He practiced in Danzig after studying at Berlin and Leipzig. In recognition of his studies on malarial fever and his wor ...

. (Great Plagues of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. Historical-pathological investigations. Gathered and published, expanded by Dr.

) Berlin: Verlag Theodor Christian Friedrich Enslin 1865.

Sources

* A. Hirsch,
Justus Hecker
in:

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

, Band 11

External links

Justus Hecker
at Read How You Want
Justus Hecker
in the catalogue of the

Deutschen Nationalbibliothek The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehensiv ...

Justus Hecker
in the catalogue of the

Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin The Berlin State Library (; officially abbreviated as ''SBB'', colloquially ''Stabi'') is a universal library in Berlin, Germany, and a property of the German public cultural organization the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (). Founded i ...

Image of the title page of ''Great Plagues of the Middle Ages'' in "Atlas zur Entwicklung der Psychiatrie"
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hecker, Justus 1795 births 1850 deaths 19th-century German physicians German medical historians Historians of the Children's Crusade German pathologists Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Physicians from Erfurt German male non-fiction writers