Alexander von Lichtenberg

Contested

Credit for intravenous urography is contested among Swick (the urographic use), von Lichtenberg (whose clinic and presentations carried the work) and the chemists Binz and Räth (who made the compounds). Swick's part was recognised only in 1966.

What the film says

• The professor in whose clinic Swick worked, who presented the discovery to the world.

  Watch 46:05 in the film VIII. Light

• Himself driven from his posts in Germany a few years later because of his Jewish ancestry.

  Watch 46:30 in the film VIII. Light

On the timeline

• 1906: At Heidelberg, Voelcker and von Lichtenberg introduce retrograde pyelography with Collargol. timeline
• November 1929: Swick's paper on intravenous urography with Uroselectan appears in Klinische Wochenschrift, followed by a joint clinical paper with von Lichtenberg. timeline
• 1929 and 1930: Von Lichtenberg presents the method at a meeting in Munich (1929) and at the AUA (1930). timeline
• 1936: Von Lichtenberg is dismissed from all his posts because of his Jewish ancestry. timeline
• 1939: Von Lichtenberg emigrates via Budapest to Mexico, where he dies in 1949. timeline

Sources