George Rosen papers

George Rosen was born June 23, 1910 in Brooklyn, New York. He was educated in the public schools of New York City before attending the City College of New York, where he graduated in 1930 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Rosen acquired his M.D. from the University of Berlin in 1935. At the suggestion of Henry Sigerist, Rosen wrote a historical dissertation on the reception and influence in Europe of the research of William Beaumont, the American physician-physiologist. This work sparked a lifelong interest in the history of medicine.

With the rise of the Nazis, Rosen returned to the United States soon after obtaining his degree. He interned at Beth-El Hospital before starting a private practice in ophthalmology and otolaryngology. In 1941, he gave up his medical practice to work in the New York City Department of Public Health as a clinic physician in the Bureau of Tuberculosis. He later became a district health officer and then Director of the Bureau of Health Education.

While working in these capacities, Rosen also continued his research, writing, and studies. In the years 1938-1944, he edited the journal Ciba Symposiawith his wife, Beate Caspari-Rosen, and he published his first monograph, The History of Miners' Diseases: A Medical and Social Interpretation, in 1944. In 1941, he began graduate studies in sociology at Columbia University, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in 1947.

Rosen served in World War II as a medical intelligence officer in the Division of Preventative Medicine within the Surgeon General's office. Shortly after the war, he participated in the interrogation of Nazi generals in London as a translator.

Upon returning from Europe after the war, Rosen resumed his public health career and his studies at Columbia University, where he obtained a master's degree in public health in 1950. Also in that year, Rosen was appointed director of the Division of Health Education and Preventative Services of the Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York, while he concurrently held the position of professor of public health education in the School of Public Health and Administrative Medicine at Columbia. In 1969, he devoted himself full-time to scholarly pursuits, joining the Department of History of Science and Medicine at Yale University, where he also taught courses in Yale College, the Graduate School, and the School of Medicine.

George Rosen was best known for the breadth and volume of his scholarly work which covered many topics and time periods. He published eleven books and over two hundred articles on topics relating to the history of medicine and public health. He also served as editor of the American Journal of Public Health (1957-1973) and Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences (1946-1952), which he also helped to incorporate.

Rosen and his wife Beate met at the University of Berlin while both were medical students, and they were married in 1933. They had two children, Susan and Peter. George Rosen died on July 27, 1977 in Oxford, England.