Pioneers in Ozone Therapy

 From: The Use of Ozone in Medicine
 Second Revised Edition
 First English Edition
 S. Rilling/R. Viebahn



Christian Friedrich Schonbein

Born on 18th October 1799 in Metzingen, Swabia (near Stuttgart); died 
on 29th August 1868 in Baden-Baden.

1840 is given as the year in which ozone was discovered.  Schonbein 
was a contemporary of famous scientists such as Volta, Jenner, Dalton, 
Cuvier, Humboldt, Ampere, Berzelius, Fraunhofer, Ohm, Faraday, Wohler, 
and Liebig, to name but a few.

Apart from his discovery of guncotton, which was just as important as 
ozone, Schonbein was the author of 343 scientific publications in 837 
editions.  During his studies at the University of Erlangen, he was a 
co-student with the famous chemist, Baron Justus von Liebig.  He also 
enjoyed a long personal contact with the philosopher Friedrich von 
Schelling who, with his post-Kantian philosophy concerning the "nature 
of the elements", exerted a great influence on him.  Schonbein taught 
at a private school in Epsom, England, and attended lectures held by 
the famous French physicist Gay-Lussac.  At the age of 29 (in 1828) he 
received a call to the University of Basle in Switzerland, where he 
was appointed professor of physics and chemistry in 1835.

In a letter dated 20th May 1866 to his friend Liebig, he himself 
describes the circumstances of his discovery:

"I am of the opinion that, for the history of science, those who 
discover facts of even minor significance should always communicate to 
colleagues the manner by which they have come across them.  This 
matter is, regrettably, often neglected, for which reason even 
important discoveries appear to have been made by hazard - which they 
certainly never were and, indeed, never will be, as they must always 
be preceded by an idea, even if the initial impulse leading up to it 
frequently consists of a phenomenon observed by chance.  For my part, 
I have observed this in myself in a small way: the perception of the 
'electric' smell of electrolytically produced oxygen was simply a 
chance phenomenon - however, everything emerging from this observation 
cannot be attributed any longer to pure hazard."

In 1832, Schonbein published the famous little book on this 
'remarkable substance' entitled "The Production of Ozone by Chemical 
Means" (Erzeugung des Ozons auf chemischem Wege).

Initially, he still believed that ozone was a component of nitrogen.  
Liebig, who wished for a comprehensive essay on ozone by Schonbein in 
his journal ("Liebigs Annalen"), proposed using in place of the word 
'ozone', the less exceptionable term 'ozonized oxygen'.  Almost the 
entire part of his later work was devoted to oxygen, the "hero of 
chemistry".

Buttersack, a known German writer, once defined ozone as "a set of 
oxygen atoms in transit within a system (or organism)".

In 1857, with the "superior induction tube" developed by Werner von 
Siemens (the engineer and inventor), the first technical ozone unit 
was constructed.


Erwin Payr

Born on 17th February 1871 in Innsbruck (Austria); died on 5th April 
1946.  At the age of 28, in 1899, he received his lectureship 
(habilitation) at the University of Graz in Carinthia: in 1907 he was 
regular professor at Greifswald University (in present-day Eastern 
Germany), in 1910 at Konigsberg (East Prussia), and in 1911 at Leipzig 
(Saxony).

His major fields were surgery of the joints, thyroid operations, brain 
surgery and the suture of blood vessels: this changed in 1932, 
however, when he himself became a patient and experienced ozone 
treatment on his own body through his dentist, E.A. Fisch.

In an autobiographical description, Payr has left us a few statements 
which were important for the scientific situation of his times; they 
are still valid today.

"When using references, I have always insisted on absolute honesty: it 
is not correct to put foreign feathers in one's cap";

"Unexpected difficulties have always brought out my best efforts and 
performances";

As regards his literary productions (medical writings):

"One can make life easier or more difficult respectively if one does 
not go through the relevant references carefully in the original 
instead of the review, which is often inadequate; this avoids 
superimposing one's own trains of thought unjustly or carelessly on 
those of others already expressed previously."

"Perception and error are paths which run very close to each other."

Mental work is a private sanctuary, and one must not allow it to be 
disturbed or desecrated."


E.A. Fisch (1899-1966)

As a dental physician and surgeon, Fisch has recorded his large range 
of experience with ozone in a number of publications in Italian, 
French and German: finally, in the 1950's he prepared a comprehensive 
doctoral thesis on this subject.

Actual ozone therapy found its origins in the dental practice of E.A. 
Fisch, as this is where Payr was able to make his acquaintance with 
the method as a patient in the chair.

The patent for the apparatus bearing the name CYTOZON, now used in 
modern ozone generators for dental medicine, was also applied for by 
E.A. Fisch as the first piece of laboratory equipment.


Joachim Hansler

Was born in Hirschberg, Upper Silesia (now Jolenia Gora in West 
Poland), on 17th December 1908 and studied physics, mathematics and 
chemistry, first of all at Breslau (Wroclaw, now Poland), and then at 
Berlin.  These three related fields formed, in combination, the 
fundamental background for his interdisciplinary research and 
construction.

Born on the same day as the chemist and glass manufacturer Friedrich 
Otto Schott, who invented the world-famous Jena glass, and on the same 
day as the unique musical phenomenon Beethoven, he created the 
prerequirements for the technical application of medical ozone.  
Although Joachim Hansler died on 11th November 1981, his name will be 
remembered as long as medical ozone therapy is used.

Without his pioneering work, the problem of accurate medical ozone 
application would probably have remained unsolved up to the present 
time.


Hans Wolff

Was born on 4th April 1924 in Stentsch (now Szczaniec) near the West 
Prussian border (now Poland).  Like many others of his generation, his 
life was marked by the war and subsequent events.  After hostilities 
and life as a prisoner of war with the Americans, he completed his 
medical studies at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main (FRG) 
and spent his years of internship at the same city, before receiving 
his licence to practice there on 15th May 1953, where he then started 
up his own practice as general practitioner, which he continued until 
his untimely death of 22nd July 1980.  Not only an impassioned 
physician, he also inspired enthusiasm in those about him, and his 
dynamic manner also affected his patients.  The words of a colleague 
in his obituary thus become understandable when he writes: Hans 
Wolff's entire medical activity and research was a life dedicated to 
ozone.  He also wrote this under the impression obtained from Wolff's 
book "Medical Ozone" ("Das Medizinische Ozon").  A virtuoso in 
rhetoric and gesture, the innumerable participants in his courses and 
training sessions will never forget him.  His never-ceasing interest 
was devoted to planning a world-wide spreading of ozone application in 
medicine.  It was on this basis that the Statutes of the Medical 
Society of Ozone Therapy were founded in 1972.  Hans Wolff gave the 
signals for this idea.
