UCSF Pays Remembrance to Microbe Hunter Karl F. Meyer

Medical historians like Dr. Mark Honigsbaum find great joy in exploring the depths of UCSF’s library. Testaments to that are Honigsbaum’s deliberate encounters with journal articles by and interviews with Karl Friedrich Meyer. UCSF Archive and Special Collections’ fourth lecture, on Dec. 5, featured Honigsbaum romping through the historical significance of this UCSF scientist. Honigsbaum recounted Meyer’s work with sick parakeets, horses, squirrels and fruit bats, and the profound impact his work had on ecological preservation and treating infection.

Dr. Julius Schachter, Meyer’s final graduate student, said “he was [also] a platform lecturer of par excellence.” Having worked with Meyer for 14 years, Schachter remarked on Meyers’ gift to communicate and his propensity to double lecture time without anyone leaving the lecture hall.

Look forward to attending future Archives lectures with varied topics and speakers in the Parnassus Library. The lectures are free and open to the public.