Die österreichischen Medizinnobelpreisträger

The present publication summarises the biographies of the Austrian winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, Robert Bárány; Julius Wagner von Jauregg, Karl Landsteiner, Konrad Lorenz and Karl von Frisch, the focus being primarily not on an assessment of their medical achievements but rather on a presentation of their lives. While these five personalities today are regarded as figureheads in the history of Austrian science, their biographies clearly show that they were by no means endowed with success from birth, and that on the contrary their achievements were often not given the appropriate recognition or value during their lifetimes in Austria. The objective is to show the occasionally difficult conditions, the personal fates as well as the political backgrounds against which the said doctors pursued their careers and led their lives.