Pioneers in Ozone Therapy From: The Use of Ozone in Medicine Second Revised Edition First English Edition S. Rilling/R. Viebahn Christian Friedrich Schonbein Born on 18th October 1799 in Metzingen, Swabia (near Stuttgart); died on 29th August 1868 in Baden-Baden. 1840 is given as the year in which ozone was discovered. Schonbein was a contemporary of famous scientists such as Volta, Jenner, Dalton, Cuvier, Humboldt, Ampere, Berzelius, Fraunhofer, Ohm, Faraday, Wohler, and Liebig, to name but a few. Apart from his discovery of guncotton, which was just as important as ozone, Schonbein was the author of 343 scientific publications in 837 editions. During his studies at the University of Erlangen, he was a co-student with the famous chemist, Baron Justus von Liebig. He also enjoyed a long personal contact with the philosopher Friedrich von Schelling who, with his post-Kantian philosophy concerning the "nature of the elements", exerted a great influence on him. Schonbein taught at a private school in Epsom, England, and attended lectures held by the famous French physicist Gay-Lussac. At the age of 29 (in 1828) he received a call to the University of Basle in Switzerland, where he was appointed professor of physics and chemistry in 1835. In a letter dated 20th May 1866 to his friend Liebig, he himself describes the circumstances of his discovery: "I am of the opinion that, for the history of science, those who discover facts of even minor significance should always communicate to colleagues the manner by which they have come across them. This matter is, regrettably, often neglected, for which reason even important discoveries appear to have been made by hazard - which they certainly never were and, indeed, never will be, as they must always be preceded by an idea, even if the initial impulse leading up to it frequently consists of a phenomenon observed by chance. For my part, I have observed this in myself in a small way: the perception of the 'electric' smell of electrolytically produced oxygen was simply a chance phenomenon - however, everything emerging from this observation cannot be attributed any longer to pure hazard." In 1832, Schonbein published the famous little book on this 'remarkable substance' entitled "The Production of Ozone by Chemical Means" (Erzeugung des Ozons auf chemischem Wege). Initially, he still believed that ozone was a component of nitrogen. Liebig, who wished for a comprehensive essay on ozone by Schonbein in his journal ("Liebigs Annalen"), proposed using in place of the word 'ozone', the less exceptionable term 'ozonized oxygen'. Almost the entire part of his later work was devoted to oxygen, the "hero of chemistry". Buttersack, a known German writer, once defined ozone as "a set of oxygen atoms in transit within a system (or organism)". In 1857, with the "superior induction tube" developed by Werner von Siemens (the engineer and inventor), the first technical ozone unit was constructed. Erwin Payr Born on 17th February 1871 in Innsbruck (Austria); died on 5th April 1946. At the age of 28, in 1899, he received his lectureship (habilitation) at the University of Graz in Carinthia: in 1907 he was regular professor at Greifswald University (in present-day Eastern Germany), in 1910 at Konigsberg (East Prussia), and in 1911 at Leipzig (Saxony). His major fields were surgery of the joints, thyroid operations, brain surgery and the suture of blood vessels: this changed in 1932, however, when he himself became a patient and experienced ozone treatment on his own body through his dentist, E.A. Fisch. In an autobiographical description, Payr has left us a few statements which were important for the scientific situation of his times; they are still valid today. "When using references, I have always insisted on absolute honesty: it is not correct to put foreign feathers in one's cap"; "Unexpected difficulties have always brought out my best efforts and performances"; As regards his literary productions (medical writings): "One can make life easier or more difficult respectively if one does not go through the relevant references carefully in the original instead of the review, which is often inadequate; this avoids superimposing one's own trains of thought unjustly or carelessly on those of others already expressed previously." "Perception and error are paths which run very close to each other." Mental work is a private sanctuary, and one must not allow it to be disturbed or desecrated." E.A. Fisch (1899-1966) As a dental physician and surgeon, Fisch has recorded his large range of experience with ozone in a number of publications in Italian, French and German: finally, in the 1950's he prepared a comprehensive doctoral thesis on this subject. Actual ozone therapy found its origins in the dental practice of E.A. Fisch, as this is where Payr was able to make his acquaintance with the method as a patient in the chair. The patent for the apparatus bearing the name CYTOZON, now used in modern ozone generators for dental medicine, was also applied for by E.A. Fisch as the first piece of laboratory equipment. Joachim Hansler Was born in Hirschberg, Upper Silesia (now Jolenia Gora in West Poland), on 17th December 1908 and studied physics, mathematics and chemistry, first of all at Breslau (Wroclaw, now Poland), and then at Berlin. These three related fields formed, in combination, the fundamental background for his interdisciplinary research and construction. Born on the same day as the chemist and glass manufacturer Friedrich Otto Schott, who invented the world-famous Jena glass, and on the same day as the unique musical phenomenon Beethoven, he created the prerequirements for the technical application of medical ozone. Although Joachim Hansler died on 11th November 1981, his name will be remembered as long as medical ozone therapy is used. Without his pioneering work, the problem of accurate medical ozone application would probably have remained unsolved up to the present time. Hans Wolff Was born on 4th April 1924 in Stentsch (now Szczaniec) near the West Prussian border (now Poland). Like many others of his generation, his life was marked by the war and subsequent events. After hostilities and life as a prisoner of war with the Americans, he completed his medical studies at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main (FRG) and spent his years of internship at the same city, before receiving his licence to practice there on 15th May 1953, where he then started up his own practice as general practitioner, which he continued until his untimely death of 22nd July 1980. Not only an impassioned physician, he also inspired enthusiasm in those about him, and his dynamic manner also affected his patients. The words of a colleague in his obituary thus become understandable when he writes: Hans Wolff's entire medical activity and research was a life dedicated to ozone. He also wrote this under the impression obtained from Wolff's book "Medical Ozone" ("Das Medizinische Ozon"). A virtuoso in rhetoric and gesture, the innumerable participants in his courses and training sessions will never forget him. His never-ceasing interest was devoted to planning a world-wide spreading of ozone application in medicine. It was on this basis that the Statutes of the Medical Society of Ozone Therapy were founded in 1972. Hans Wolff gave the signals for this idea.