Commemoration of the German Society of Gastroenterology
In memory of

Prof. Dr. med.
Georg Ernst Rosenfeld
1861 - 1934

Prof. Dr. med. Georg Rosenfeld © DGVS Archive
Prof. Dr. med. Georg Rosenfeld © DGVS Archive

Member since 1925

Chairman of the 4th (D)GVS Conference, Berlin, 1924

Investigated the harmful effects of alcohol from an early stage

Prof. Dr. med. Georg Ernst Rosenfeld

  • Breslau/Wrocław, Poland, 1‌3‌.‌0‌1‌.‌1‌8‌6‌1‌
  • Breslau/Wrocław, Poland, 1934
  • Member since 1925
  • Wrocław
  • Specialist in internal medicine

“The author Georg Ernst Rosenfeld, of Jewish faith, was born in Breslau on 13 January 1861. He attended the Gymnasium St. Elisabeth in Breslau, from which he graduated on Easter 1878 with the certificate of maturity”, Georg Ernst Rosenfeld states in the curriculum vitae of his dissertation.

 

Education and Places of Work

Georg Rosenfeld completed his medical studies with the state examination at the University of Breslau/Wrocław in 1885. He was awarded his doctorate in March of the same year with the thesis “Beiträge zur Pathologie und Therapie des Diabetes mellitus”. He completed his training in internal medicine under Anton Biermer at the Medical University Clinic in Wrocław in 1889. Rosenfeld had already been working at Biermer’s chemical laboratory since 1883 while studying. He dedicated his thesis to Biermer. The thesis was extensive for that time with 51 pages. In addition to his training at the Wrocław Medical Clinic, Rosenfeld worked at the Physiological Institute with Rudolf Heidenhain and with the pharmacologist Wilhelm Filehne.

He had been practising as a specialist in internal medicine with his own affiliated laboratory in Wrocław since 1893. Rosenfeld was appointed “Titularprofessor” (senior lecturer) at the University of Wrocław in 1906.

He was mainly concerned with metabolic processes, fat metabolism, fat formation, fatty liver, and diabetes mellitus. His contribution to acetonuria was groundbreaking. He also worked on questions of urate diathesis and urate therapy. Rosenfeld investigated the effects of alcohol under the aspect of a possible benefit in the therapy of internal diseases and as a damaging agent. Rosenfeld rendered special services in the fight against alcoholism. He published one of the first textbooks in Germany on X-ray diagnostics in 1897 and applied the new method from an early stage to examine the position of the stomach.

 

After 1933

Georg Rosenfeld died in Wrocław in 1934 at the age of 73.

Publications

  1. Die Diagnostik innerer Krankheiten mittels Röntgenstrahlen. Wiesbaden: Verlag von J. F. Bergmann 1897
  2. Der Einfluss des Alkohols auf den Organismus. Wiesbaden: Verlag von J. F. Bergmann Wiesbaden 1901
  3. Studien über Organverfettung. Naunyn-Schmiedebergs Arch exp Path Pharmakol 1906; 55: 344-373
  4. Zur Methodik der Entfettungskuren. Arch Verdauungskr 1909; 15: 325-336
  5. Die Ein- und Ausschaltung der Leber. Naunyn-Schmiedebergs Arch exp Path Pharmakol 1932; 166: 205-210

Sources and Further Reading
Sources
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Sources/Literature/Weblinks

Biographie of Prof. Dr. med. Georg Ernst Rosenfeld

Bibliography

  • Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Rosenfeld G. Dissertation: Beiträge zur Pathologie und Therapie des Diabetes mellitus. Breslau 1885. BSB, Diss.med. 163-41: 51

Literature

  • Fischer I. Biographisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Ärzte der letzten fünfzig Jahre. Band I. Berlin, Wien: Urban & Schwarzenberg; 1932: 1324
  • Jenss H, Lerch MM. Tagungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Gastroenterologie, Verdauungs- und Stoffwechselkrankheiten (DGVS). Die Präsidenten 1914 – 2014. Greifswald: Sardellus Verlagsgesellschaft; 2014: 13