Kurt Aterman was raised in the Czech-Polish portions of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I and the interwar period. After completing medical school and beginning postgraduate pediatrics training in Prague, this Jewish Czech physician fled to England as a refugee when the Nazis occupied his homeland in 1939. He repeated/completed medical training in Northern Ireland and London, working briefly as a pediatrician. Next, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corp in India, working as a pathologist. After the war and additional pathology training, he spent the next decade as an experimental pathologist in Birmingham, England. After completing a fellowship with Edith Potter in Chicago, Aterman spent the next 2 decades as a pediatric-perinatal pathologist, primarily working in Halifax, Canada. Fluent in many European languages, he finished his career as a medical historian. Aterman published extensively in all 3 arenas; many of his pediatric pathology papers were massive encyclopedic review articles, accurately recounting ideas from historical times. Aterman was a classical European scholar and his papers reflected this. Aterman was one of the founding members of the Pediatric Pathology Club, the predecessor of the Society for Pediatric Pathology. This highly successful refugee’s writings are important and memorable.
D’CruzC. The legend of the Pediatric Pathology Club and its infamous knights (with apologies to Monty Python and the Holy Grail). Pediatr Devop Pathol. 2015;
18:522–523.
3.
AtermanK. My memories—fancy or fact. Unfinished autobiography circa November 2000 covering his life through his second medical school graduation. 27 pages, provided to the author by Mary Larlem. (NB, my library and papers including all unique materials used to write this article become the property of The Ohio State University Medical Heritage Center upon my death).
4.
AtermanK.If only the refugees won’t flap. In: IMaxwell, ed. This Was My War. A Collection of Memories of the 1939-1945 Conflict. 3rd ed.Tancock Island, Canada:
The Little Daisy Press; 1993:56–69.
5.
K. Aterman, M.D., Ph.D. D.Sc., M.R.C.P., F.R.C.Path, D.C.H., Curriculum Vitae, circa 1988; in possession of the author.
MackenzieR. Death of Kurt Aterman. Association of Dalhousie Retirees and Pensioners. Q Newslett; Summer2002;
1(1):7.
9.
Aterman, Helen Rita (Obituary). Halifax Chronicle Herald. March 19, 2011.
10.
BennettPW. The Grammar School: Striving for Excellence for 50 Years in a Public School World.
Halifax, Canada:
Formac Publishing Co.; 2009.
11.
AtermanK.Effect of cortisone on early fibrosis of the liver in rats. Lancet. 1950;
2(6637):517–519.
12.
AtermanK.Some local factors in the restoration of the rat’s liver after partial hepatectomy: 1. “glycogen” the Golgi apparatus; sinusoidal cells; the basement membrane of the sinusoids. AMA Arch Pathol. 1952;
53:197–208.
13.
De PaepeMEKeymeulenBPipeleersDKloppelG.Proliferation and hypertrophy of liver cells surrounding islet grafts in diabetic recipient rats. Hepatol. 1995;
21:1144–1153.
14.
AtermanK.The stem cells of the liver—a selective review.J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 1992;
118(2):87–115.
15.
AtermanK.Hepatic neoplasia: reflections and ruminations. Virchows Arch. 1995;
427(1):1–18.
AtermanK.Extrarenal nephroblastomas.J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 1989;
115(5):409–17.
19.
AtermanKGrantmyerEGillisDA.Extrarenal Wilms’ tumor: a review and case report. Invest Cell Pathol. 1979;
2:309–318.
20.
AtermanK.Pronephros and mesonephros—Cohnheim revisited. Pediatr Pathol. 1990;
10(6):1021–1032.
21.
AtermanK.Ellenborough King’s disease: an addendum to “chronic relapsing eponymy”. Am J Dermatopathol. 1985;
7(2):197–198.
22.
WelchJPAtermanK.The syndrome of caudal dysplasia: a review, including etiologic considerations and evidence of heterogeneity.Pediatr Pathol. 1984;
2(3):313–327.
23.
AtermanKSchuellerEF.Maturation of neuroblastoma to ganglioneuroma.Am J Dis Child. 1970;
120(3):217–222.
24.
AtermanKKerenyiNLeeM.Adrenal cytomegaly.Virchows Arch A Pathol Pathol Anat. 1972;
355(2):105–122.
25.
AtermanKDischeMRFrankeJFraserGMMeyerWW.Aneurysms of the coronary arteries in infants and children. A review, and report of six cases.Virchows Arch A Pathol Anat Histol. 1977;
374(1):27–44.
26.
AveryCRAtermanK.Calcification of the basement-membrane of placental villi.J Pathol. 1971;
103(3):199–200.
27.
AbaciFAtermanK.Monilial infection of the umbilical cord.Obstet Gynecol. 1966;
27(6):845–849.
28.
AtermanK.Pathology of Candida infection of the umbilical cord.Am J Clin Pathol. 1968;
49(6):798–804.
29.
LopezEAtermanK.Intra-uterine infection by Candida.Am J Dis Child. 1968;
115(6):663–670.
30.
HoCYAtermanK.Infection of the fetus by Candida in a spontaneous abortion. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1970;
106(5):705–710.
31.
AtermanK.Why did Hephaestus limp?Am J Dis Child. 1965;
109:381–392.
32.
AtermanK.From Horus the child to Hephaestus who limps: a romp through history. Am J Med Genet. 1999;
83(1):53–63.
33.
AtermanK.Child poverty in ancient Rome: the ‘Alimenta Italiae’ of the “Good Emperors.” Wurzbg Medizinhist Mitt. 1997;
16:151–172.
34.
AtermanK.The Kupffer cell. A short historical review. In: EWisseDLKnook, eds. Kupffer Cells and Other Liver Sinusoidal Cells. Proceedings of the International Kuppfer Cell Symposium, Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands, September 4–7, 1977;
Amsterdam, the Netherlands:
Elsevier-North Holland Biomedical Press; 1977:3–20.
35.
AtermanK.The development of the concept of lysosomes. A historical survey, with particular reference to the liver.Histochem J. 1979;
11(5):503–541.
36.
AtermanK.The space of Disse. Kupffer Cell Bull. 1979;
2(1):10.
37.
AtermanK.Carl v. Kupffer: a short biography. Kupffer Cell Bull. 1980;
3(1):7–10.
38.
AtermanK.Connective tissue: an eclectic historical review with particular reference to the liver.Histochem J. 1981;
13(3):341–396.
39.
AtermanK.The parasinusoidal cells of the liver. A historical account.Histochem J. 1986;
18:279–305.
40.
AtermanK.A pretty a vista reaction for tissues with amyloid degeneration, 1875: an important year for pathology.J Hist Med Allied Sci. 1976;
31(4):431–447.
41.
AtermanK.A historical note on the iodine-sulphuric acid reaction of amyloid.Histochemistry. 1976;
49(2):131–143.
42.
AtermanKRemmeleWSmithM.Karl Touton and his “xanthelasmatic giant cell.” A selective review of multinucleated giant cells.Am J Dermatopathol. 1988;
10(3):257–269.
43.
AtermanK.Did Mozart have Tourette’s syndrome? Some comments on Mozart’s language.Perspect Biol Med. 1994;
37(2):247–258.
44.
AtermanKJankoJ.Jan Evangelista Purkynĕ (1787–1869). Part I: biographical notes.J Med Biogr. 1994;
2(3):146–150.
45.
AtermanKJankoJ. JanEvangelista Purkyne. Part II. The question of his nationalism. J Med Biogr1994;
2(4):201–208.
46.
AtermanK.Jan Evangelista Purkynĕ’s votum (1847) on the admission of Jews to academic positions at the University of Breslau. Wurzbg Medizinhist Mitt. 1993;
11:311–331.
47.
AtermanK.Purkynĕ’s Austria Polyglotta: an historical note for our times.J Med Biogr. 1997;
5(1):22–24.
48.
AtermanKTrávnickováE.Purkynĕ’s heautognosis.J Med Biogr. 2001;
9(2):87–96.
