[The 150th birthday of Otto Heubner 21 January 1993]

Otto Heubner can be counted among the fathers of pediatry. Beginning as an autodidact, he became pediatrist by chance, holding the first university chair in Germany (1884) exclusively devoted to pediatry; he needed no Dr. med. habil. thesis. Observing the little patients was his primary interest; for the infants treated in the hospital he introduced "aseptic environments". Heubners main scientific achievements were the treatment of infectious and stomach-intestinal diseases. He described "Endarteritis syphilitica" and found Meningococci in the cerebrospinal fluid. "Serious deficiency of digestion" (Coeliac disease) became known through his work. Together with his friend M. Rubner he created the notion of EQ (Nutrition Quotient). Also, he realized the functional effects of orthotic albuminuria. Heubners centers of activity were Leipzig and Berlin, where he had a large community of followers; his successor, recommended by him, was A. Czerny.