Eduard Pernkopf
Encyclopedia
Eduard Pernkopf was an Austria
n professor of anatomy
, rector of the University of Vienna
(1943–1945), member of the Nazi party since 1933, famous for his anatomical atlas, Topographische Anatomie des Menschen (translated as Atlas of Topographical and Applied Human Anatomy).
Pernkopf began his atlas in 1933. He worked 18-hour days dissecting corpses while a team of artist created the images that would eventually be in the atlas. He worked for over two decades on the atlas.
In 1996 Pernkopf and his atlas came into the focus of a controversy in scientific ethics when Dr. Howard Israel, an oral surgeon at Columbia University
revealed that it was based on bodies of victims of Nazi terror
. The question was discussed whether it is ethical to use Nazi's medical research.
With the help of other parties, Dr. Israel directed a request to the University of Vienna to investigate the issue. This resulted in the establishment of the Senatorial Project of the University of Vienna "Studies in Anatomical Science in Vienna from 1938 to 1945" in 1997. The project confirmed that at least 1,377 bodies of executed persons were delivered to the University during the Nazi times and its usage cannot be excluded from at least 800 images of the atlas.
A number of scientists concluded that the continued use of the atlas is desirable in teaching of anatomy
, history
, and ethics
.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n professor of anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
, rector of the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
(1943–1945), member of the Nazi party since 1933, famous for his anatomical atlas, Topographische Anatomie des Menschen (translated as Atlas of Topographical and Applied Human Anatomy).
Pernkopf began his atlas in 1933. He worked 18-hour days dissecting corpses while a team of artist created the images that would eventually be in the atlas. He worked for over two decades on the atlas.
In 1996 Pernkopf and his atlas came into the focus of a controversy in scientific ethics when Dr. Howard Israel, an oral surgeon at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
revealed that it was based on bodies of victims of Nazi terror
Terror
Terror may refer to:*Fear, an emotional response to threats and danger*Terror, a political strategy of the asymmetrical use of threats and violence against enemies using means that fall outside the routine forms of political struggle operating within some current regime*Terrorism, the fact of...
. The question was discussed whether it is ethical to use Nazi's medical research.
With the help of other parties, Dr. Israel directed a request to the University of Vienna to investigate the issue. This resulted in the establishment of the Senatorial Project of the University of Vienna "Studies in Anatomical Science in Vienna from 1938 to 1945" in 1997. The project confirmed that at least 1,377 bodies of executed persons were delivered to the University during the Nazi times and its usage cannot be excluded from at least 800 images of the atlas.
A number of scientists concluded that the continued use of the atlas is desirable in teaching of anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, and ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
.
Further reading
- Holubar, Karl, "The Pernkopf Story: The Austrian Perspective of 1998, 60 Years after It All Began", Perspectives in Biology and MedicinePerspectives in Biology and MedicinePerspectives in Biology and Medicine is an academic journal established in 1957. It publishes essays that explore biology and medicine in relation to their place in society. Authors write informally, presenting their “perspectives” as the titles suggests...
- Volume 43, Number 3, Spring 2000, pp. 382–388,