Bernhard Nocht

NOCHT, Bernhard (born 1857), a well-known German bacteriologist and specialist in tropical diseases. He graduated from the Medical Academy in Berlin and in 1883 entered the German naval service as a physician. During his service, he traveled to a number of tropical countries. In 1892, he worked as a commissioner during the cholera epidemic in Hamburg. In 1893, he was appointed to the newly created post of Hamburg port physician and organized port health services there. On Nocht's initiative, the Institute for Tropical and Naval Hygiene was established in Hamburg in 1900, of which Nocht has served as permanent director for 30 years. In 1901, Nocht was appointed a member of the German Sanitary Council. From 1906 to 1920, he served as the director of public health in Hamburg. During this time, Nocht traveled on business trips to East Africa and Palestine on multiple occasions. In 1919, Nocht was appointed professor of tropical medicine, and from 1926, rector of the University of Hamburg. Since 1923, he has been a member, and since 1927, vice-president of the Health Committee of the League of Nations. In 1924, he headed an international commission to study malaria in the USSR, Italy, Spain, and Palestine; in 1929 and 1930, in Brazil and Siam. Nocht is known primarily as an expert in tropical pathology and hygiene. Most of Nocht's numerous works, many of which were written jointly with his pupils, are scattered across medical journals and concern a wide range of issues in tropical medicine and hygiene. Associated with Nocht's name is the method of treating malaria with small doses of quinine, which has gained widespread use (see Malaria). Nocht's work on beriberi on sailing vessels played an essential role in the study of this avitaminosis. Among Nocht's works published in recent years, the most important are: Die Malaria, eine Einführung in ihre Klinik, Parasitologie u. Bekämpfung (jointly with M. Mayer, Berlin, 1918; Russian edition, Tiflis, 1924); Tropenhygiene (Berlin-Leipzig, 1923); Beriberi (chapter in Handbuch der Tropenkrankheiten, edited by C. Mense, 3rd edition, vol. II, Leipzig, 1924); Segelschiffberiberi (chapter in the book Avitaminosen u. verwandte Krankheitszustände, edited by W. Stepp and P. György, Berlin, 1927). In the journal Gigiena i epidemiologiya (1924, no. 5), Nocht published a review of malaria treatment methods. Nocht's work on cholera prophylaxis, the organization of sanitary supervision in ports and on ships, the fight against malaria, etc., are the result of vast practical and administrative experience. The Institute for Tropical and Naval Hygiene created by him in Hamburg is the world's largest institution of this specialty, having trained thousands of hygiene physicians and being closely connected in its scientific and practical work with related institutions in all parts of the world.