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“Physician of Kings – King of Physicians” Constructing, Self(re)presenting and Media-Marketing: The International Image of the Austrian Internist Karl Fellinger across Political Systems
Wed, July 15, 9:15 to 10:45am, EFI, 2.20English Abstract
Karl Fellinger (1904–2000), known as the “father of the New Vienna Medical School”, treated monarchs and presidents, including Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, at his clinic and the prestigious Viennese hospital Rudolfinerhaus. Linking medicine to Austria’s international diplomacy, he knew very well how to arrange himself at the intersection of science and politics. How did the “physician of kings” become the “king of physicians”, as he is referred to in both media and literature?
Appointed Professor at the II. Medical Clinic of the University of Vienna in 1946, the catholic physician had refused NSDAP membership, highlighted by the media as a role model of political integrity. His wife, Barbara Issakides (1914–2011), a pianist and resistance member, supported this ethical narrative, abandoning her international music career to help solidify their path.
In 1952, Fellinger´s visiting professorship in Cairo opened doors across the Near and Middle East. The media followed his work closely, noting every milestone of his academic career. The visionary professor, specialized in medical disciplines like rheumatology, cancer research or nuclear medicine, housed a computer center and the world’s most advanced electron microscope at his clinic, turning it into a symbol of medical modernity, bridging East and West during the Cold War. Being aware of the power of the media, the European and global citizen cultivated his role as science communicator, explaining medical knowledge in a popular-scientific format. He retired in 1975 but continued to shape the media landscape by engaging in public health well into the 1990s. In memory of her husband, Barbara founded the Fellinger Association for Cancer Research in 2002.
Despite Fellinger´s prominence, critical scholarship is lacking. This talk explores how the media constructed his heroic image across shifting political landscapes and how it related to contemporary perceptions of authority, morality, and medical modernity in Europe.