Medicine, eugenics and overpopulation: the ideas of Georg Friederich Nicolai-Lewinstein (1874 ? 1964)

BORTZ, JAIME ELÍAS; MARTÍNEZ KLEIN, MARÍA DE LA PAZ; LANDINO, MATÍAS; BORTZ, GABRIELA

Mérida

Congreso; VII Meeting of the International Society for the History of Medicine; 2013

International Society for the History of Medicine

The first decades of the twentieth century evidenced changes in health care and medical practices. This transformation was enhanced by ?and at the same time reinforced- the consolidation of medicine as a scientific discipline, legitimated through knowledge production and innovation in the realms of physiology, microbiology and pathology. Physicians concerned about sanitary issues began to comment ?and intervene- on social problems that were hitherto perceived as outside the scope of their profession. The ability to prolong life artificially through technical interventions resulted in an increase of the population. Some scientists feared an imminent global overpopulation motivated by the progress in health care, affecting natural resources, living space and food availability. This paper is aimed to analyze the eugenic ideas of the German physiologist Georg Friedrich Nicolai (b. Lewistein) (1874-1964). Born in Germany and active pacifist during World War I, Nicolai sought refuge in Argentina between 1922 and 1932 where he worked as a university professor and physiology researcher. Nicolai claimed that medical practice would derive in the into global overpopulation with catastrophic consequences for the human species, posing a bioethical debate about who had the right to live and who had not. Nicolai argued that medicine should provide solutions through reproductive and fertility control, abortion and killing of the mentally retarded, criminals and youths, while sustained the need to redefine the concept of life and death.