Karl Friedrich Meyer (19 May 1884 – 27 April 1974) was an American scientist of Swiss origin. He was one of the most prodigious scientists in many areas of infectious diseases in man and animals, the ecology of pathogens, epidemiology and public health[1-6]. Some called him the “Pasteur of the 20th century”.
Early life and education
Meyer was born in Basel (Switzerland) to Theodor Meyer, 1852–1934, (a „Meyer zum Pfeil”), international cigar merchant, and Sophie, née Lichtenhahn, teacher, 1857-1936. Karl Friedrich had two younger sisters.
Meyer began his studies in 1902 at the University of Basel and soon moved to the University of Zurich where he concentrated on biology, zoology, histology, and laboratory techniques. He was greatly fostered by Heinrich Zangger, professor of comparative anatomy (and later the first professor of Medical Law in Zurich), who sent him to work with leading scientists in Munich and Bern. Meyer was deeply impressed and influenced by Zangger's social consciousness. He received a doctorate of veterinary medicine in 1909 from the University of Zurich. – Later, in 1924, Meyer spent a sabbatical leave from the University of California in Zurich and obtained a Ph.D. in Bacteriology from the University of Zurich.
Scientific career
South Africa, 1908–1910
Meyer found his first employment in South Africa. The Transvaal Department of Agriculture in the (then) Union of South Africa had just established a large, special Institute devoted to research in public health and farm animal diseases, the latter being important for the economy of the country. The first director of the institute was another Swiss veterinarian, Arnold Theiler (father of the Nobel prize winner Max Theiler), famous for having successfully combated the so-called rinderpest, African horse sickness, and many other viral and bacterial infections of livestock.
Theiler employed Meyer as pathologist (i.e. to study and diagnose diseases by examination of organs, tissues, body fluids, and whole bodies). In this function he autopsied hundreds of animals and developed outstanding dexterity in doing this.
In addition, Meyer had to develop vaccines, one against rabies, another to protect cattle against pleuro-pneumonia, a disease with devastating economic consequences for the farmers. In these studies he discovered a hitherto unknown type of the germ (now known as a mycoplasma) causing the disease. Moreover, he was able to answer one important question as to the lifecycle of the parasite causing African East Coast fever. And he showed that cattle could be protected against the illness.
Meyer and Theiler both were strong personalities who did not get along too well. Shortly after returning to Switzerland, Meyer was offered a position as an assistant professor at the Veterinary School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania, US, 1910–1913
Meyer taught pathology and comparative pathology at the Veterinary School of Pennsylvania. He argued with the Dean over dealing with ill-prepared students that had been admitted to the school.
Meyer was promoted to professor, and was put in charge of the diagnostic section of the Laboratory and Experimental Farm of the Pennsylvania Livestock Sanitary Board. He studied glanders, a bacterial disease in horses and mules which first affects the mucous membranes. It may be lethal, and is also dangerous to humans.
He also helped to elucidate the transmission of the bacteria causing a contagious abortion disease of cattle and also infecting humans via unsterilized milk, causing (possibly lethal) fever. This is the so-called brucellosis. Meyer never just stayed in the laboratory. He wanted to put his expertise to practical use, to the benefit of the people. So he soon consulted with the Milk Commission working on regulation to secure food safety of milk.
California, US, 1914–1974
In 1914 Meyer changed to the University of California (San Francisco and Berkeley) where he stayed for the rest of his life. – He was appointed to Prof. of Bacteriology and Protozoology and taught medical bacteriology at the Berkeley Medical School. He produced a textbook on pathology, collaborating with Frederick P. Gay and G.Y. Rusk.