Citizens' Campus: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the (chronically) suffering patient

We revere Johann Wolfgang v. Goethe above all as a brilliant poet and writer. His achievements as a scientist (mineralogist, botanist, meteorologist, anatomist and biologist), painter and draughtsman, philosopher, politician and diplomat, administrator and director of theaters and museums are less well known. With his life's work, he is a symbol of physical and mental health for many, also in view of his relatively advanced age (82 years).

The Goethe whose life was overshadowed by serious illnesses of all kinds is the least known. He once said to Johann Peter Eckermann, his confidant in the last years of his life: "I have always been praised as someone particularly favored by good fortune, nor do I want to complain or criticize the course of my life. But basically it has been nothing but toil and labor, and I can well say that in my seventy-five years I have not had four weeks of actual pleasure. It was the eternal rolling of a stone that always wanted to be lifted anew [...]." Embedded in important episodes of his life, the lecture portrays a patient who often suffered.

The speaker is the former Chief Physician of the Thuringia Clinics in Rudolstadt, PD Dr. med. habil. Friedrich Meier. He has made it his mission to trace the lifestyles and medical characteristics of historical personalities.

Admission: 5 euros