Signe Lindskov Hansen:
The scientist as a hero - readings of four biographies of
the physician and scientist Niels Finsen (1860-1904).
Bibl Læger 2005; 197: 4-76.

This article, based on the author's PhD-thesis "The forgotten genre - readings of Danish biographies of scientists and scholars from 1750 onwards" treats monographic biographies of Danish medical doctors and scientists. The heroizing biographical genre is completely dominant from its consolidation from the beginning of the 20th century and up to today. A reading of three heroizing biographies of the physician and scientist Niels Finsen (1860-1904), written by William Thulstrup (1866-1921), Anker Aggebo (1894-1977) and Svend Lomholt (1888-1949), shows the influence of three significant dimensions for the monographic biography: a didactic, an artistic, and an academic. These dimensions respectively seek to edify, to engender empathy, and to enlighten. A reading of a non-heroizing Finsen biography, written by Jørgen Lyngbye (born 1929), shows how stronger focus on scientific teamwork threatens to dissolve the biography's "central perspective"; its focus on a single scientist's life and work. It also shows how this type of critical biography marks new paths, which bring the genre further than the classical heroic biography.

Sten Madsen:
Hideyo Noguchi at the Danish State Serum Institute.
Bibl Læger 2005; 197: 77-85.

The Japanese bacteriologist Hideyo Noguchi (1876-1928), well-known for his work on syphilis, polio and, in particular, yellow fever, studied at the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen in 1903.

In subsequent letters to Dr. Thorvald Madsen, the Director of the Institute, Noguchi describes his endeavours to discover the agent of yellow fever, which he erroneously held to be caused by bacteria. Noguchi was himself infected with yellow fever and died of the disease in 1928.

Mogens Mellergård:
Creativity and mental illness.
Bibl Læger 2004; 196: 86-98.

A possible relationship between creativity and mental illness has been discussed for many years, mostly based on the knowledge of spectacular cases from history. Several epidemiological studies have been performed, but often critizised for the lack of randomness as well as undefined criteria. The present paper suggests a different approach and tries to analyze some characteristics of artistic creativity in relation to general features of psychopathology. It is hypothesized that affective disorders may enhance artistic activities, whereas schizophrenic processes most certainly reduce the artistic potential. Any simple relationship between madness and artistic performance may be abandoned. The famous cases, known to everybody, are collected during centuries, where the concepts of art and madness have changed several times.