Owsei Temkin (; October 6, 1902 – July 18, 2002) was William H. Welch Professor Emeritus of the History of Medicine at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. He was a

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n-born,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

-educated,

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medical historian.

Early life and education

Owsei Temkin was born in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, Belarus (then part of Russia), on October 6, 1902, the son of Samuel and Anna (Raskin) Temkin. In 1905 his Jewish family moved to

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany, to avoid

pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...

s. In Leipzig he attended the Real-Gymnasium. After the

Russian revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, his family lost its Russian citizenship.

Career

After receiving his M.D. from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

in 1927, Temkin worked in the university's institute for the history of medicine as an ''Assistent'' and ''

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 ...

'' before moving to the United States in 1932. He then moved with Henry E. Sigerist to the

's new Rockefeller-funded Institute for the History of Medicine, and he worked at Johns Hopkins through and after his retirement,

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

, in 1968. He became director of the Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins in 1958. He became known as one of the world's foremost experts on the interaction of medicine and culture throughout history. He was a longtime editor of the ''

Bulletin of the History of Medicine The ''Bulletin of the History of Medicine'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1933. It is an official publication of the American Association for the History of Medicine and of the Johns Hopkins Institute of the History ...

.'' During his academic career and retirement, he published hundreds of articles and a dozen books on the

history of medicine The history of medicine is both a study of medicine throughout history as well as a multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to explore and understand medical practices, both past and present, throughout human societies. The history of med ...

. His last book was published in the year of his death on July 18, 2002, at age 99. Temkin received the Welch Medal and the Sarton Medal and was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

, the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

, and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

Selected publications

*''The Falling Sickness: A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology''. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1945, Revised 1971; ) *''Galenism: Rise and Decline of a Medical Philosophy'' Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1973, ) *''The Double Face of Janus and Other Essays in the History of Medicine'' Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977, ) *''"On Second Thought" and Other Essays in the History of Medicine and Science''. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. *''Respect for Life in Medicine, Philosophy, and the Law.'' Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977 (co-author). *''Hippocrates in a World of Pagans and Christians.'' Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. *''Antimalarial Drugs''. Washington, DC: National Research Council, Office of Medical Information, 1944 (co-author). *''Soranus' Gynecology.'' Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. *''Ancient Medicine: Selected Papers of Ludwig Edelstein''. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967 (co-editor). *''In Memory of Henry E. Sigerist''. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1957. *"Metaphors of Human Biology". In: ''Science and Civilization'', 1949, pp. 169–194. *"Science and Society in the Age of Copernicus". In: ''The Nature of Scientific Discovery'', 1975, pp. 106–133. *''A Report on the Medical Treatment of Filariasis Bancroft''. Washington, DC: National Research Council, Division of Medical Sciences, 1945. *''Galen's Dissection of the Liver and the Muscles Moving the Forearm''. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1946 (co-author). *"The Philosophical Background of Magendie's Physiology". ''Bulletin of the History of Medicine'', 1946, v. 20. *''Was Servetus Influenced by Ibn an-Nafis?'' Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1940. *The Classical Roots of Glisson's Doctrine of Irritation. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1964. *"Materialism in French and German Physiology of the Early Nineteenth Century". ''Bulletin of the History of Medicine'', 1946, v. 20. *"Byzantine Medicine: Tradition and Empiricism". ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', no. 16, pp. 95–115.

References

* Nutton, Vivian
"Obituary: Owsei Temkin, 1902–2002"
''Medical History'' 47(1), January 2003; pp 100–103 (accessed via PubMed Central, National Institute of Health, 13 August 2007).

Early life and education

Career

Selected publications

References

See also