Hans-Rudolf Wiedemann


Hans-Rudolf Wiedemann was born on February 16, 1915 in Bremen and died on August 4, 2006 in Kiel. He was a German pediatrician, University teacher and autograph collector.

Life

Wiedemann's father was a medical practitioner. His mother came from a medical family. Wiedemann studied medicine at the University of Freiburg, the University of Munich, the University of Hamburg, the University of Lausanne and the University of Jena.
In 1940, he passed the state examination. With a doctoral thesis with Yusuf Ibrahim he was appointed doctor of medicine in 1941 in Jena. In Jena, he wrote and researched jaundice.He continued with specialist training in Bremen, Bonn and Münster.As director of the Krefeld Children's Hospital, he was one of the first to recognize the fatal side effects of thalidomide. While initially considered safe, thalidomide was responsible for teratogenic deformities in children born after their mothers used it during pregnancies, prior to the third trimester. In November 1961, thalidomide was taken off the market due to massive pressure from the press and public.
The University of Kiel appointed him in 1961 as Chairman of Pediatrics. In 1977 Wiedemann was chairman of the German Society for Paediatrics Medicine. In 1980 he became professor emeritus.He collected and wrote several books about autographs with his wife Gisela von Sybel.

Honors

Among his honors are: