Fritz Buchthal, MD (1907–2003)

Abstract

Fritz Buchthal was born in Witten, Germany, the son of merchant S. Buchthal and his wife Hedwig—both of Jewish descent from the Netherlands, who had emigrated to Nordrhein-Westphalen in Germany. By the time he was 11 years old, Buchthal began to show fascination with physics and biology—interests that would form his lifelong ambitions. In 1925, he started medical school at the University in Freiburg im Breisgau. A year later, he fled to California in protest of the rising of the “Deutsche Nationalismus.” His father did not support him financially while he was in California, but did offer him a return ticket to Germany. To support himself, he worked as a shoemaker’s aide and a college cleaning assistant at night. He also taught students at Stanford University how to write applications in German. In 1927, Buchthal passed the entrance examination to Stanford where he studied anatomy, genetics, biology, and physiology. Under the tutelage …