Georg Wildführ

Georg Wildführ (30 August 1904 – 4 August 1984) was an East German Medical microbiologist and hygienist.

His scientific work particularly focused on bacteriology, serology, epidemiology, hygiene, and toxoplasmosis.

Life

Early years Georg Wildführ was born in Linden, then a village near the edge of the city, but following large scale urbanisation and local government boundary reforms in 1920 a city-district in Hannover. His father was a factory foreman. After completing his primary schooling, he studied Architecture at Leibniz University Hannover between 1923 and 1925 before switching to medicine.

Uranium As early as 1947 Wildführ was issuing warnings about the health dangers of the Uranium mining, caused by dust, radiation and lead, arising at the country's strategically important and tightly controlled Wismut operation. However, the political leadership generally ignored his concerns.

Awards and honours Georg Wildführ was an Honorary Senator of the University of Leipzig and he was honoured by the state as a Senior Medical Counsellor (OMR / Obermedizinalrat). Leipzig gave him an Honorary Doctorate in 1973.

He received the Rudolf Virchow Prize, the National Prize of East Germany in 1962 and in 1963 the Badge of Honour from Karl Marx University (Leipzig). In 1964 he was designated an Honoured Doctor of the People.

Selected publications G. Wildführ, W. Wildführ (edited): Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Immunologie und Epidemiologie. Thieme, Leipzig 1976 G. Wildführ, W. Wildführ: Toxoplasmose. Ratgeber für Ärzte und Tierärzte. Gustav Fischer Verlag, 1975 G. Wildführ, J. Schmidt: Aktuelle Probleme der medizinischen Mikrobiologie. Thieme, Leipzig 1969