Ernst Rüdin

Ernst Rüdin (April 19, 1874 - 1952) Swiss-German psychiatrist, geneticist and eugenicist. Rüdin was born in St. Gallen, Switzerland. He is known as one of the fathers of racial hygiene.

Background

Influenced in racial hygiene and social Darwinism by his brother-in-law Alfred Ploetz, Rüdin started his career as a psychiatrist and developed the concept of "empirical genetic prognosis" of mental disorders. He published his initial results on the genetics of schizophrenia in 1916.

Related Topics:
Darwinism - Alfred Ploetz - Empirical genetic prognosis - Mental disorders - Genetics - Schizophrenia - 1916

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Rüdin was the director (1917-1945) of the Genealogical-Demographic Department at the German Research Institute of Psychiatry.

Related Topics:
1917 - 1945 - German Research Institute of Psychiatry

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Ernst Rüdin was the director of the one of the first eugenics research institutes, known as Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Genealogy in Munich, Germany. He also headed the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt and the German Society for Rassenhygiene (Race-hygiene) and was one of the first members of the organization who attempted to educate the public on the "dangers" of heredity defectives and the value of the Nordic race as "culture creators."

Related Topics:
Eugenics - Kaiser Wilhelm Institute - Munich - Germany - Max Planck Institute - German Society for Rassenhygiene (Race-hygiene) - Nordic

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His research was later supported by manpower and financial funding from the National Socialist Party. After 1945, Rüdins connections to the Nazis were the main reason for criticism towards psychiatric genocide in Germany.

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