Joszef Fodor

Fodor, Jószef 

Born July 16, 1843, in Lakócsa; died Mar. 20, 1901, in Budapest. Hungarian hygienist and epidemiologist. Academician of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1883).

Fodor received his medical education at the University of Vienna and the University of Budapest (1865). In 1872 he became a professor in the department of forensic medicine at the University of Klausenburg (Cluj), and in 1874 he became a professor in the department of general hygiene of the medical faculty of the University of Budapest; he was dean of the faculty from 1886 to 1894 and rector in 1894 and 1895.

Fodor developed new methods for measuring dust in the air (the Fodor tube) and the moisture content of soil. He was one of the first to note the relationship between outbreaks of epidemics of intestinal infections and the quality of drinking water. Fodor also studied problems of food hygiene and school hygiene. He was the first in Europe to organize courses for the preparation of school physicians. Fodor was particularly concerned with the development of social hygiene; in this area, he collaborated with M. von Pettenkofer and J. Simon.

Fodor was an honorary member of hygiene societies in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Finland, as well as an honorary member of the Permanent Commission and International Association on Occupational Health. He was the editor of the journal Egészseg (Health) from 1887 to 1901.

WORKS

Hygienische Untersuchungen über Luft, Boden und Wasser, insbesondere auf ihre Beziehungen zu den epidemischen Krankheiten, vols. 1–2. Braunschweig, 1881–82.
In Russian translation:
Zdorovyi zhiloi dom: Lektsii. St. Petersburg, 1878.

REFERENCES

Melli, I. I. “Fodor—osnovopolozhnik vengerskoi gigienicheskoi nauki.” Gigiena i sanitariia, 1960, no. 3.
Antall, J., A. Faludy, and K. Kapronczay. “Jószef Fodor and Public Health in Hungary.” In Medical History in Hungary, 1972. Budapest, 1972.