Hans Zinsser (November 17, 1878 – September 4, 1940) was an Americanphysician, bacteriologist, and prolific author.[2]
He was the author of over 200 books and medical articles, and was a member of a number of scientific and medical organizations. He was also a published poet, some of his verses were published in The Atlantic Monthly.[3]
His 1940 autobiography, As I Remember Him: the Biography of R.S., won one of the early National Book Awards, the sixth and last annual award for Nonfiction voted by members of the American Booksellers Association.[4][5]
Biography
Early life
The son of German immigrants,
Zinsser was born in New York City in 1878. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1899 and completed both a masters degree and a doctorate in medicine there in 1903.[6]
In 1905, he married Ruby Handforth Kunz, eldest daughter of the mineralogist, George Frederick Kunz, and they had two children, Hans Handforth and Gretel Zinsser, and they all lived in Boston. Gretel later married Vernon Monroe, Jr.
Career
After holding a series of academic medicine positions, Zinsser became an associate professor at Stanford University in 1910. In 1913, Zinsser moved to a position at his alma mater. Ten years later, he was hired away by Harvard Medical School, where he stayed — except for service in the US Army Medical CorpsinWorld War I — until his death.
Zinsser taught as an exchange professor — or worked with the American Red Cross — in France, Russia, Serbia and China, and was noted for his work in typhus and immunology. He became a lieutenant colonel in the US Army and served overseas during World War I. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, and was also awarded another military citation for taking exceptional risks to minister to wounded soldiers while under direct enemy fire. He was awarded with the Order of St. Sava of Serbia and the Legion of Honour in France.[3]
Zinsser's scientific work focused on bacteriology and immunology and he is most associated with typhus — especially the form called Brill–Zinsser disease, his namesake. He isolated the typhus bacterium and developed a protective vaccine. He wrote several books about biology and bacteria, notably Rats, Lice and History (1935), a "biography" of typhus fever.[7] Zinsser had a strong influence on the work of Albert Coons (1912–1978), who developed the technique of immunohistochemistry.
Zinsser, Hans. As I Remember Him: The Biography of R.S. Gloucester, Mass: Peter Smith. 1970. With an introduction including biographic notes by Edward Weeks.