Albert Schweitzer was born on January 14, 1875 in a small village in Alsace, which was part of Germany (schweitzerfellowship.org). In 1893 he started studying at the University of Strasbourg and got a doctorate philosophy in 1899. He later obtained his licentiate in theology in 1900 (nobelprize.com). In 1899 he started preaching at St. Nicholas Church in Strasbourg. In 1906 he published The Quest of the Historical Jesus.
At the age of 30 Albert decided to dedicate his life to the growing need for medical assistance in Africa. In 1905 he went back to the University of Strasbourg and received his M.D degree in 1913. He then founded a hospital at Lambaréné in French Equatorial Africa (nobelprize.com). Schweitzer and his wife were taken as prisoners of war in 1917 and were released in 1918. He spent the next few years back in Europe where he taught, preached, took medical classes, and published more books (nobelprize.com). In 1924 he returned to Lambaréné where he spent most of the rest of his life. He expanded his hospital to have over 70 buildings and have the capability to care for 500 patients at any given time.
As a child Schweitzer learned to play the piano and organ. He was recognized as an internationally known concert organist for most of his life. He wrote a biography on Bach in both French and German (nobelprize.com). He used some of the royalties from his musical career in order to fund and expand his hospital.
Schweitzer received the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1953. He used the prize money from the Nobel Prize to add a leprosarium to Lambaréné (nobelprize.com). Toward the end of his life Schweitzer spoke out against the testing of nuclear arms and the dangers that it posed to the atmosphere and people and his one frustration was that he had failed to convince the world to abolish nuclear weapons (schweitzerfellowship.org).
Schweitzer died on September 4, 1965. He was buried at Lambaréné.
I feel that the most inspiring thing about Schweitzer is that he could have had successful careers anywhere in Europe being a doctor, scholar, preacher, or musician and chose to use his knowledge to help people in Africa who otherwise would not have gotten the medical help that they desperately needed. Schweitzer did more than just donate or spend a little bit of time helping people in Africa, and dedicated his life to the hospital that he build and worked in.
Tom Lehrer’s Who’s Next?
Works Cited
About Albert Schweitzer. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.schweitzerfellowship.org/about/albert-schweitzer/
The Nobel Peace Prize 1952. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1952/schweitzer/biographical