Brandes, Ludwig Israel

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BRANDES, LUDWIG ISRAEL

BRANDES, LUDWIG ISRAEL (1821–1894), philanthropist and chief physician of the General Hospital in Copenhagen. Brandes was one of the first Danish doctors to understand and practice physiotherapy, and he wrote a treatise on this subject. He established the first Danish day nursery and a society for children's care. In 1859 he founded a private old-age home called Københavns Sygehjem, which still exists, and initiated several new social projects for the benefit of Danish communal life. His autobiography Mine Arbejders Historie ("The Story of My Works," 1891) gives evidence of a great scholar and humanist.

bibliography:

Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, 3 (1934), 643–4.

[Julius Margolinsky]