biography
pronunciation:
[shviytser]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1875–1965)
|
| biography:
| Medical missionary, theologian, musician, and philosopher, born in Kaysersberg, NE France (formerly Germany). He studied at Strasbourg, Paris, and Berlin, and in 1896 made his famous decision that he would live for science and art until he was 30, then devote his life to serving humanity. He became a curate at Strasbourg (1899), taught at the university (1902), and was appointed principal of the theological college (1903). His religious writing includes Von Reimarus zu Wrede (1906, trans The Quest of the Historical Jesus), and major works on St Paul. True to his vow, despite his international reputation in music and theology, he began to study medicine in 1905, and after qualifying (1913), set out with his newly-married wife to set up a hospital to fight leprosy and sleeping sickness at Lambaréné, French Equatorial Africa, where he remained for the rest of his life, apart from fund-raising visits and occasional lectures in Europe. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. |
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