Alban Köhler

Alban Köhler was born in Pesta, Germany. He was educated at the universities of Berlin, Erlangen and Freiburg im Breisgau. He was conferred doctor of medicine in Freiburg in 1897. The following year he came to Dresden to work with the pathologist Christian Georg Schmorl (1861-1932) in the St. Joseph-Hospital, but later moved on to the surgeon Friedrich Cramer (1847-1903) in Wiesbaden, where he decided to devote himself to the roentgenology. In 1903 he settled as a radiologist in Wiesbaden, and soon became one of the best known physicians in this new speciality.

Köhler was concerned with bringing together the two disciplines og radiology and surgery, and published a work on this theme. He also published on tuberculosis of the lungs as well as on radiologically recognisable diseases of the skeleton. He introduced technical modifications to achieve improved X-ray visualisation of the heart.

In 1905 he was a co-founder of the Deutsche Röntgengesellschaft in Berlin. During April 13/14, 1912, he was president of the 8th Roentgen Congress in Berlin In 1913 he was appointed Professor h.c. in Wiesbaden. In 1933 he received the Hermann Rieder medal (named for Hermann Rieder, 1858-1932). His works are among the most important of the first decades of radiology.

• Knochenerkrankungen im Röntgenbilde. Atlas. Wiesbaden, 1901.
• Technik der Herstellung fast orthodiagraphischer Herzphotogramme vermittelst Röntgeninstrumentarien mit kleiner Elektrizitätsquelle.
  Wiener klinische Rundschau, Wien, 1905, 19: 279-282.
  Introduction of teleradiography of the heart.
• Grenzen des Normalen und Anfänge des Pathologischen im Röntgenbild.
  Thieme-Verlag, 1905. A standard textbook that was translated into several languages and went through 15 editions.
• Die normale und pathologische Anatomie des Hüftgelenks und Oberschenkels in röntgenographischer Darstellung. Hamburg, 1905.
• Röntgendiagnostik der kindlichen Lungendrüsentuberkulose. Hamburg, 1906.
• Theobald Kerner †. Münchener medizinische Wochenschrift, 1907, 54: 1739-1740.
• Ueber eine häufige, bisher anscheinend unbekannter Erkrankung einzelner kindlicher Knochen.
  Münchener medizinische Wochenschrift, 1908, 55: 1923-1925.
  Freiberg-Köhler syndrome.
• Grenzen des Normalen und Anfänge des Pathologischen im Röntgenbilde.
  Hamburg, 1910; 6th edition, 1931; translated into English, French, Italian, and Spanish.
• Röntgenverfahren in der Chirurgie. Berlin, 1912.
• Eine typische Erkrankung des 2. Metatarsophalangealgelenkes.
  Münchener medizinische Wochenschrift, 1920; 67: 1289-1290.
  Freiberg-Köhler syndrome.