Jean Hamburger

Jean Hamburger (1909-1992) was a distinguished Jewish French physician, surgeon and essayist. He is particularly known for his contribution to nephrology, and for having performed the first renal transplantation in France in 1952.

Hamburger was the father of the well-known French singer-songwriter, Michel Berger.

Biography

Hamburger was born in Paris on 15 July 1909.

Medical career

Together with René Kuss, Hamburger defined the precise methods and rules for conducting renal transplantation surgery, and is atrributed with founding the medical discipline of nephrology. In 1952, he performed the first successful renal transplant surgery in France, on a 16 year old carpenter, Marius Renard who damaged his only kidney when he fell off scaffolding, using a kidney donated by the subject's mother. The organ failed, but rejection was staved off for three weeks, a record at the time. In 1955, he created the very first articifial kidney. Hamburger is credited with major breakthroughs in renal transplants: first prolonged success in 1953, first unqualified success between twins in 1959 and non-twins in 1962. He also authored basic research on the immunological basis of kidney disease, graft immunology and auto-immune diseases.

Family

Hamburger married concert pianist Annette Haas, and had 3 children, Michel, Bernard and Françoise.In the 1950s, Hamburger contracted a lung infection which weakened him severely. This left him in an extremely depressed state. He suddenly and inexplicably decided to leave the family home one day, cutting himself off from his wife and children. In spite of the fact that his wife, Annette, did her best to create a warm, trusting relationship between herself and her young children, their children are known to have suffered a great deal because of the abandonment. Hamburger died on 1 February 1992.

Published works

*1972 "La Puissance et la Fragilité" (Flammarion)
*1975 "Dictionnaire de médecine", préface et direction (Flammarion)
*1976 "L’Homme et les Hommes" (Flammarion)
*1979 "Demain, les autres" (Flammarion)
*1981 "Un jour, un homme..." (Flammarion)
*1982 "Introduction au langage de la médecine" (Flammarion)
*1983 "Le journal d’Harvey" (Flammarion)
*1984 "La Raison et la Passion" (Le Seuil)
*1985 "Le Dieu foudroyé" (Flammarion)
*1986 "Le Miel et la Ciguë" (Le Seuil)
*1988 "Monsieur Littré" (Flammarion)
*1988 "La plus belle aventure du monde" (Gallimard)
*1988 "Zouchy et quelques autres histoires" (Flammarion)
*1989 "Dictionnaire promenade" (Le Seuil)
*1990 "La Puissance et la Fragilité. Vingt ans après" (Flammarion)
*1990 "Le Livre de l’aventure humaine" (Gallimard)
*1991 "Les Belles Imprudences, Réflexion sur la condition humaine" (Odile Jacob)

Recognition & Awards

He was elected to life membership of the Académie française on 18 April 1985 (Seat 4), to succeed Pierre Emmanuel, in an official ceremony which took place on 16 January 1986 (Upon his death, Cardinal Decourtray was elected to fill his seat on 1 July, 1993).

*Grand officier de la Légion d'honneur
*Grand officier de l'ordre national du Mérite
*Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres

External links

* [http://www.academie-francaise.fr/immortels/base/academiciens/fiche.asp?param=669 Académie française biography]
* [http://www.rfimusique.com/siteen/biographie/biographie_6090.asp RFI Musique] - biography of Michel Berger