Cesare Lombroso

Italian psychiatrist, physician, and criminologist (1835-1909) · Italy · Doctors · Died at 73

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He thought you could spot a criminal by the shape of their skull. Cesare Lombroso built a science out of measuring faces and bodies to prove that lawbreakers were evolutionary throwbacks - born defective, marked from birth.

Doctors Doctor Medicine Literature 19th Century

A life in dates

1909Died19 October 1909“Unfortunately, goodness and honor are rather the exception than the rule among exceptional men, not to speak of geniuses.”In their wordsDie Welt (1909); also in A Treasury of Jewish Quotations (1985) by Joseph L. BaronRead the whole statement

1891“Good sense travels on the well-worn paths; genius, never. And that is why the crowd, not altogether without reason, is so ready to treat great men as lunatics.”In their wordsp. xRead the whole statement

“Klopstock was questioned regarding the meaningof a passage in his poem. He replied, "God and I both knew what it meant once; now God alone knows.”In their wordsPt. I, Ch. 2Read the whole statement

“The appearance of a single great genius is more than equivalent to the birth of a hundred mediocrities.”In their wordsPt. II, Ch. 2Read the whole statement

“The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand.”In their wordsPt. III, Ch. 3Read the whole statement

“Lawsuit mania"… a continual craving to go to law against others, while considering themselves the injured party.”In their wordsPt. III, Ch. 3Read the whole statement

1835Born6 November 1835

Also in Deutsch

Photos 7

Cesare Lombroso. Photogravure. Wellcome V0026740 (cropped)

Face Measurements Lombroso's method

Istituto di anatomia patologica, museo, scheletri, cranio lombrosiano 01

Istituto di anatomia patologica, museo, scheletri, cranio lombrosiano 02

Lapide Cesare Lombroso - Cimitero monumentale Torino

Le professeur Lombroso CIPB0136

Le professeur Lombroso CIPB0425

In their own words 7

Cesare Lombroso

7 statements, newest first

Unfortunately, goodness and honor are rather the exception than the rule among exceptional men, not to speak of geniuses.
1909, Die Welt (1909); also in A Treasury of Jewish Quotations (1985) by Joseph L. Baron, Own words
Good sense travels on the well-worn paths; genius, never. And that is why the crowd, not altogether without reason, is so ready to treat great men as lunatics.
1891, p. x, Own words
Klopstock was questioned regarding the meaningof a passage in his poem. He replied, "God and I both knew what it meant once; now God alone knows.
1891, Pt. I, Ch. 2, Own words

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Cesare Lombroso

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About this person

Born Ezechia Marco Lombroso on 6 November 1835, he trained as a physician in Italy and turned his attention to the question of why people commit crimes. The classical school said crime was a choice inherent to human nature; Lombroso rejected that outright. Drawing from physiognomy, degeneration theory, psychiatry, and Social Darwinism, he argued that criminality was inherited - that a "born criminal" could be identified by physical defects marking them as savage or atavistic. His theory of anthropological criminology made him the founder of the Italian school and reshaped Western notions of individual responsibility. He died 19 October 1909, credited as the founder of modern criminology.

Country

Italy

Doctors from Italy 6

Maria Montessori68.2 Paolo Macchiarini56.7

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