Friedrich Erismann

Friedrich Huldreich Erismann (1842 to 1915), known in Russia as Fyodor Fyodorovich Erismann, was a Swiss ophthalmologist and hygienist. Born in Gontenschwil, he took his medical doctorate at the University of Zurich in 1867 and continued ophthalmology studies in Heidelberg, Vienna and Berlin before moving to Saint Petersburg, where his interests turned to public health and the conditions of the poor. After studying hygiene and physiology in Munich he took part in the Russo-Turkish War, then taught in Moscow from 1881 and became professor of hygiene and director of the institute of hygiene there in 1884. He is regarded as a pioneer of scientific hygiene in Russia, worked to improve water quality and food standards in Saint Petersburg and Moscow, and designed a school desk used in Russian schools into the 1960s. Dismissed in 1896 for political reasons, he returned to Switzerland.