Hans Popper

Born:	11-24-1903
Faculty:	Medical School | Medical University Vienna
Category:	Expelled teacher

Hans POPPER, born on November 24th, 1903 in Vienna/Austria, died on May 6th, 1988 in New York/USA, was an unpaid extraordinary assistant ('unbesoldeter außerordentlicher Assistent') at the First Medical University Clinic (Prof. Eppinger) at the Medical School of the University of Vienna in 1938.
After he had graduated from high school ('Akademisches Gymnasium') in Vienna he began to study at the Medical School of the University of Vienna in 1922. During his studies he wrote scientific texts, two of them together with Zacharias Dische. He graduated in 1928, specialised in anatomical pathology and biochemical laboratory and developed his interest in Hepatology. In 1933 Hans Popper began to work at the First Medical University Clinic headed by Hans Eppinger. He was persecuted in times of Nazism as a Jew, lost his position and was thrown out of the University of Vienna.
Also his cousin, Dr. Ludwig Popper(1904-1984), had worked as “Assitent" at the Department of Medical Chemistry of the University of Vienna until 1936 and intended to be 'habilitated' (postdoctoral qualification), didn't have the chance to finish after the "Anschluss". Until the "Anschluss" 1938 he kept on working voluntarily (unpaid) as head of the nurses station of the Vienna General Hospital and as a guest physician at the outpatient department of the gynaecological clinic. The Medical School of the University of Vienna informed him in June 1938, that his habilitation no longer serves any purpose because of his "non-Aryan" descent and that he could come to pick up his documents. He was able to emigrate to Switzerland in 1938 and to Bolivia in 1939. He returned to Vienna in 1947 and received his habilitation as a lecturer ('Privatdozent') for internal medicine in 1948. Dr. Hans Popper was able to emigrate via the Netherlands to New York/USA, received a research fellowship at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago, where he became director of the department of Pathology in 1943, and gained a PhD in pathology and physiology at the University of Illinois in 1944.
His father also emigrated to New York in 1938 at the age of 75 years, passed the Illinois State Board examination to practice as a physician for further 10 years.
In 1942 Hans Popper married a fellow, Lina Billig. They had two sons, Frank J. Popper and Charles Popper. In 1943 he obtained the US citizenship and served in the US army until 1946. Later he worked as Professor of Pathology at Northwestern University School of Medicine until he was appointed pathologist-in-chief at the Mount Sinai Hospital and moved to in New York in 1957. He was one of the founders of Mount Sinai School of Medicine (1963) and was its first dean of academic affairs. In 1965 Hans Popper was awarded a honorary doctorate of the University of Vienna. In 1973, he was appointed Gustave L. Levy Distinguished Service Professor and became president and dean of Mount Sinai Medical Center. There he was also head of the department of pathology until he retired in 1973. After his retirement he still was active in research and teaching. Hans Popper is regarded as the founder of hepatology (study of the liver and its diseases).

Lit.: information from his great cousin Dr. Lutz E. Popper, Oberwart/Austria, 2014; Thomas J. LUECK, Dr. Hans Popper, an Authority On Liver Diseases, Is Dead at 84 (Obituary), in: New York Times (May 8, 1988);Lutz Elija POPPER, Hg., Ludwig Popper (1904-1984): Bolivien für Gringos. Exil-Tagebuch eines Wiener Arztes, Oberwart 2005, 301; Hans Popper Hepatopathology Society; Rudi SCHMID, Hans Popper (1903-1988), in National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoir, Washingston D.C. 1994, 290-309; Lutz Elija POPPER, Briefe aus einer versinkenden Welt 1938/1939, Oberwart 2008, bes. 14-19 [regarding Ludwig Popper].

Katharina Kniefacz and Herbert Posch