Hoimar von Ditfurth

Hoimar von Ditfurth, born in Berlin in 1921 and died in 1989, was a German physician and scientific journalist. He studied medicine, psychology and philosophy in Berlin and Hamburg and took his doctorate in 1946. From 1948 to 1960 he worked at the university hospital of Würzburg, where he habilitated in 1959 and became a lecturer in psychiatry and neurology, later holding associate professorships at Würzburg and Heidelberg. In 1960 he joined the pharmaceutical firm Boehringer of Mannheim and led its psychopharmacology laboratory, responsible for the development and clinical testing of psychotropic drugs including chlorpromazine. He edited the journal Naturwissenschaft und Medizin from 1964. After 1969 he worked as a freelance lecturer and science writer, becoming widely known as a television presenter and the author of popular science books, and he argued against pseudoscience and creationism. His awards included the Adolf Grimme Award, the Bambi Prize and the Kalinga Prize. He died of thyroid cancer in Freiburg.