Armin Geus

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Armin Geus
Born1937
NationalityGerman
Scientific career
FieldsHistory of medicine,
history of biology
InstitutionsUniversity of Marburg

Armin Geus (German: [ˈgɔʏs]; born 1937) is a German medical historian and historian of biology.

Career[edit]

Geus received his academic education in zoology with a specialisation in parasitology.[1] In 1964, he obtained his PhD for a work on the gregarinasina of Central European arthropods.[2] In 1973, he became professor for history of medicine at the University of Marburg, a post he held until his retirement.[3] In 1976, Geus founded the Basilisken-Presse, a publishing house specialized in the history of science, particularly the history of biology.[4] In 1991, he established the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie ("German society for the history and theory of biology"). In 1998, the society was developed into the Biohistoricum, a biology museum with a research archive that is considered the only institution of its kind in Germany.[1]

In 2008, Geus published a collection of essays critical of Islam entitled Gegen die feige Neutralität ("Against coward neutrality") with contributions by a number of German academics and journalists, including Karl Doehring, Ralph Giordano, Michael Miersch and Tilman Nagel.[5]

In 2011, Geus published his work Die Krankheit des Propheten ("The sickness of the prophet") which he said examined the pathography of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, from a medical point of view. Geus attests Muhammad a "paranoid-hallucinatory schizophrenia with defined delusional imaginings and characteristic sensual deceptions".[6][7] The book ranked in the top ten non-fiction list of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Norddeutscher Rundfunk in June 2011, receiving a number of reviews from colleagues and in the press.[7][8][9] A subsequent lawsuit by the Saudi-financed King Fahd Academy in Bonn with reference to the German blasphemy law was dismissed by the Marburg state prosecutor in October 2010,[10][11] after Geus' defence team had invoked the academic freedom guaranteed by the German constitution. In September 2012, the anti-Islam organisation Citizens' Movement Pax Europa had brought the case, which it said was an attempt at "silencing" critical scholars, to an OSCE human rights conference at Warsaw.[12]

Selected works[edit]

  • Festschrift der Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft Bayreuth, 1889-1964, Bayreuth: Naturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft, 1964
  • Krankheit und Kranksein in der Gegenwartskunst, Marburg an der Lahn: Basilisken-Presse, 1985, ISBN 3-9800020-9-8
  • Johannes Ranke (1836-1916): Physiologe, Anthropologe u. Prähistoriker, Marburg an der Lahn: Basilisken-Presse, 1987, ISBN 3-925347-01-1
  • Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft: 1890-1990, Stuttgart: Fischer Verlag, 1990 (co-author), ISBN 3-437-30648-0
  • Miscellen zur Geschichte der Biologie, Frankfurt am Main: Kramer, 1994 (editor), ISBN 3-7829-1134-2
  • Natur im Druck. Eine Ausstellung zur Geschichte und Technik des Naturselbstdrucks, Marburg an der Lahn: Basilisken-Presse, 1995 (co-author), ISBN 3-925347-36-4
  • Repräsentationsformen in den biologischen Wissenschaften, Berlin: Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung, 1999 (editor), ISBN 3-86135-383-0
  • Evolution durch Kooperation und Integration: zur Entstehung der Endosymbiosetheorie in der Zellbiologie, Marburg an der Lahn: Basilisken-Presse, 2007, ISBN 978-3-925347-83-2
  • Gegen die feige Neutralität: Beiträge zur Islamkritik, Marburg an der Lahn: Basilisken-Presse, 2008 (co-editor), ISBN 978-3-925347-98-6
  • Die Krankheit des Propheten, Marburg an der Lahn: Basilisken-Presse, 2011, ISBN 978-3-941365-15-5

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Das Biohistoricum, Marburger UniJournal, no. 8, January 2001
  2. ^ Deutsche Nationalbibliothek: Die Gregarinen der land- und süßwasserbewohnenden Arthropoden Mitteleuropas, retrieved 18 January 2013
  3. ^ Biohistoricum zieht von Neuburg an der Donau nach Bonn um, Informationsdienst Wissenschaft, 18 October 2008, retrieved 18 January 2013
  4. ^ Verlagsgeschichte Archived November 23, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, in Basilisken-Presse, retrieved 18 January 2013
  5. ^ Armin Geus; Stefan Etzel (eds.): Gegen die feige Neutralität: Beiträge zur Islamkritik, Marburg an der Lahn: Basilisken-Presse, 2008, ISBN 978-3-925347-98-6
  6. ^ Armin Geus: Die Krankheit des Propheten, Basilisken-Presse, Marburg an der Lahn 2011, ISBN 978-3-941365-15-5, pp. 74–75
  7. ^ a b Thomas Junker: Rezension von Armin Geus: Die Krankheit des Propheten (2011) Archived January 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Thomas Junker Website, 2011, retrieved 18 January 2013
  8. ^ Rezension. Die Krankheit des Propheten, Humanistischer Pressedienst, 11 August 2011, retrieved 18 January 2013
  9. ^ Aus der Feder eines Kranken?, Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung, 19 May 2012, retrieved 18 January 2013
  10. ^ Etappensieg für Meinungsfreiheit. Staatsanwaltschaft Marburg stellt Strafverfahren gegen Medizinhistoriker Prof. Dr. Armin Geus ein Archived 2013-01-25 at the Wayback Machine, Citizen Times, 14 October 2012, retrieved 18 January 2013
  11. ^ Staatsanwaltschaft ermittelt. Fahd-Akademie: Anzeige gegen Historiker, Express, 13 September 2012, retrieved 18 January 2013
  12. ^ Statement by Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa. Freedom of expression – Silencing intellectuals (PDF S.7), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, 24 September 2012, retrieved 18 January 2013