George Klein
From Philosopedia.org
Klein, Georg (1925 -)
Klein, a Hungarian-Swedish secular humanist and naturalist, is a researcher at the Department of Tumor Biology at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He is the only son of Ilona Engel and Henrik Klein.
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The Atheist and the Holy City
A cell biologist and oncologist whose parents were Jewish, Klein in The Atheist and the Holy City: Encounters and Reflections (1990) is troubled by the perils inherent in religion. His book does not simply criticize religious systems. Also, he is concerned that religious bureaucracies built around the Jehovah-Jesus myths have resulted in many massacres of the innocent. “It is not enough merely to be ‘anti-religious,’” he wrote. “One must build a positive force, humanism, that counteracts the religious influence in the schools, the army, and the government.”
Protesting that he is not an agnostic but an atheist, Klein added,
- I am, indeed, an atheist. My attitude is based on faith. . . . The absence of a creator, the nonexistence of God is my childhood faith, my adult belief, unshakable and holy.
The book describes what it was like to be a nonreligious doctor working in a Jerusalem clinic at a time when the world’s major monotheistic religions were jockeying for position among the sacred sites. The book also relates his friendship with Leo Szilard, devoting two chapters to the “father of the atomic bomb.”
In 1987, he wrote the following preface to The Atheist and the Holy City (MIT Press, 1990 - translated by Theodore and Ingrid Friedmann, with a foreword by Lewis Thomas):
- This book grew out of a foreword that I wrote for Peter Noll's book In the Face of Death. The imminence of his death had brought him a renewed wisdom concerning life itself.
- The words of this book that gush forth in his wake touch on some related and some unrelated subjects. They deal with cancer and the ways in which its study may elucidate normal cell functions, and with the many examples of peaceful coexistence between viruses and man. They take a look at that vast, astonishing river that is biology as it follows its wonderful and awesome course, inexorably and indifferently. They tell of scientists who struggle to navigate between cliffs of exhilaration and depression, between wisdom and folly.
- Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu god of barriers, obstacles, and inhibitions, he who must be worshiped and pacified before each voyage, has been merciful to me. The words have welled up in me. I needed only step aside and watch them flow. Am I proud of them, am I ashamed of them? Both, I would say.
- You words of my new language, stuttering words that I have only learned as an adult - where are you leading me? Do you want to play Cassandra? Are you driven by the vain desire to make way for better and more truthful words? I, as your witness and father, am ambivalent. My hand has often been poised to throw you into the wastepaper basket. But now I want to thank my friends who saved you from that fate, harsh critics and gentle commentators alike: Per Ahlmark, Tore Browaldh, Peter Citron, Edith and Lars Ernster, Karl-Erik Fichtelius, Rolf Luft, Kenneth Nilsson, Benno Müller-Hill, Anders Nässil, Dagmar and Peter Reichard, and Lars Ulvenstam.
Pietà
In Pietà (1993), Klein addresses the age-old question, “Why is there suffering?” The book’s hero is Arthur Schopenhauer, whose ethics of compassion is one that Klein embraces, and whose “unflinching pursuit of the truth” is one that Klein attempts to emulate. However, he also understands the dilemmas that arise when the two paths do not converge.
Klein’s interest in the Holocaust is not merely academic, for many of his Hungarian relatives perished in the death camps.
Viral Oncology
In 1980, Klein edited Viral Oncology, making him one of the world's best-known oncologists. This was followed in 1982 by Advances in Viral Oncology: Oncogene Studies (Raven Press) and succeeding volumes to update the advances in the field.
Articles
Among the articles written by Klein are the following:
- "Rejection antigens in chemically induced tumors," Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA, Vol 94, pp. 5991-5992, June 1997.
- "EBV and B Cell Lymphomas," in Herpesviruses and Immunity (Springer, 1998)
Other
In 1993, Klein was named a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism. He signed Humanist Manifesto 2000.
He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a foreign member of the American Philosophical Society, and as shown by his curriculum vitae the recipient of numerous awards and honors.
Curriculum Vitae
Georg Klein
Födelsedatum: 28 juli 1925, Budapest, Ungern
Instruktör i histologi, Universitetet i Budapest, 1945; Instruktör i patologi, Universitetet i Budapest, 1946; Doktorandstipendiat, Karolinska Institutet 1947-49. Medicine doktor, Karolinska Institutet, 1951. D.Sc. (Hon.) University of Chicago, 1966. M.D. (hon.) University of Debrecen, Ungern. Ph.D. (h.c.) Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1989. D.Sc. (hon.) University of Nebraska, Omaha, USA, 1991, Ph.D (hon.) University of Tel Aviv, 1994. Honorary Doctor of Medical Science, Osaka University, 2001.
Docent i medicinsk cellforskning, 1950-57. Professor i tumörbiologi och chef för Institutionen för Tumörbiologi, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 1957-1993. Forskningsgruppledare, Mikrobiologiskt och Tumörbiologiskt Centrum, Karolinska Institutet sedan 1993. Gästforskare vid Institute for Cancer Research, Philadelphia, PA, 1950. Visiting Professor, Stanford University, 1961; Fogarty Scholar, NIH, 1972; Visiting Professor, Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, 1973-1993 .
Ledamot av Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademien. Ledamot av Finska Vetenskapssocieteten. Utländsk ledamot av National Academy of Sciences of the United States. Hedersledamot av Ungerska Vetenskapsakademien. Hedersledamot av the American Association of Immunologists. Utländsk Hedersledamot av American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Utländsk hedersledamot av American Association for Cancer Research. "Foreign Member" i American Philosophical Society. Hedersledamot, Franska Immunologsällskapet. Redaktör för Advances in Cancer Research. Medlem av Scientific Advisory Board, Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research, New York. Hedersmedlem av Israel Immunological Society. Medlem av Karolinska Institutets Nobelförsamling 1957-1993. Academia Europa, 1995, Academy of Cancer Immunology, 1999. Hedersledamot av European Association for Cancer Research, 2002.
Bertha Goldblatt Teplitz Award (Ann Langer Cancer Research Foundation, Chicago) tillsammans med Eva Klein (1965). Rabbi Shai Shacknai Prize in Tumor Immunology, 1972; Bertner Award, 1973; Annual Award of the American Cancer Society, 1973; Griffuel Prize, 1974; Dunham Lecturer of Harvard University, 1966; Clowes Memorial Lecturer, American Association for Cancer Research, 1967; Prize of the Danish Pathological Society, 1976; Svenska Läkarsällskapets Lennander Lecturer 1967; Harvey Lecturer, 1973; Harvey Prize, 1975; Gardner Award, 1976; Behring Prize, 1977; Björkenska Priset 1978; Sloan Prize, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, 1979; Award of Santa Chiara Academy, 1979; Erik Fernströms Stora Nordiska Pris (tillsammans med Eva Klein) 1983; Svenska Läkarsällskapets Jubileumspris och guldmedalj 1983. Letterstedtska författarpriset från Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien, 1989. Doblougska priset från Svenska Akademien, 1990. Lisl och Leo Ettingers pris från Oslo universitet, 1990. Donald Ware Waddell Lecturer, The University of Arizona, 1991.Natur och Kulturs Stora Kulturpris, 1995. Dr Tovi Comel-Walerstein C.A.I.R. Institute Science Award för 1995 (Bar-Ilan Universitetet, Israel), 1995. Thomas P. Infusino Prize and Lectureship in Cancer Causation and Epidemiology, 1996 (tillsammans med Eva Klein). Kaposi Award 1996. Chester Stock Award of Sloan Kettering Memorial Center, 1997. Konungens medalj i 12:e storleken i serafimerordens band, 1998. Jubileumsfondens minnesmedalj, 1998. Orden Nacional al Mérito de la República de Colombia, 1998. Robert Koch guldmedalj, 1998. Institute of Human Virology, Lifetime Achievement Award, 1998. Prize of the Brupbacher Foundation, Zürich, 1999. Årets Folkbildare 1999. Paracelsusmedaljen 2001. The Wick R. Williams Memorial Lecture Award, 2001. Ingemar Hedenius pris 2002. Gregor Mendels medalj, 2005. IARC medal of honour 2006.
Har publicerat mer än 1200 arbeten inom experimentell cellforskning och cancerforskning. Böcker: Istället för Hemland, Bonniers, 1984. Ateisten och den Heliga Staden, Bonniers, 1987. Pietà, Bonniers, 1989. Motståndet (med Per Ahlmark) Bonniers, 1991.Utvägen, Bonniers 1992. "Hack i häl på Minerva" (med Lars Gyllensten), Bonniers 1993. Den Sjunde Djävulen, Bonniers, 1995. "Korpens blick", Bonniers, 1998. ”Så jag kan svara döden, när den kommer”, Bonniers, 2001. Översättningar till engelska, japanska, tjeckiska och ungerska. Skapelsens fullkomlighet och livets tragik, Bonniers, 2005. Péters Europa, Eva Dickson, Egon Fenyö, Georg Klein, Carlssons Bokförlag, 2005.
Dr. Klein and his wife Eva currently live in Sweden, where he is a naturalized citizen.
(See entry for Christian de Duve. Also, see Fabiola Aguirre, “Science and Culture,” Free Inquiry (Summer 1994); and Timothy J. Madigan, “Searching for an Answer to Suffering,” Free Inquiry (Summer 1994). Klein's first name is pronounced yay-org in Hungary, but he prefers George in English and writes under the name George, rather than Georg, Klein]).
