TRAMER, MORITZ

TRAMER, MORITZ (1882–1963), pioneer of child psychiatry. Born in Czechoslovakia, Tramer began his career as an engineer and mathematician and is the coauthor of a textbook of higher mathematics for engineers, Differential- und Integral-rechnung (1913). He then studied medicine and specialized in psychiatry. From 1924 to 1946 he was medical director of the Psychiatric Hospital in the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland, and initiated the establishment in 1924 of the Observation Center "Gotthelf Haus" for emotionally disturbed children. He lectured on child and adolescent psychiatry at Berne University and in 1951 founded the Swiss Institute of Research and Information on Child Psychiatry. The designation of the specialty as "child psychiatry" owes its existence to Tramer. He was also the advocate of its recognition as a medical specialty in Switzerland in 1953.

Tramer was a prominent figure in national and international professional organizations and published numerous articles. His books include the monumental textbook Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Kinderpsychiatrie (1942, 1964⁴) and the well-known monograph Allgemeine Psychohygiene (1960s). He was the founder and editor of the first journal of child psychiatry in 1934 later known as Acta Paedopsychiatrica which is the official organ of the International Association for Child Psychiatry and Allied Professions.

bibliography:

Acta Paedopsychiatrica, 30 (1963).

[Alexander Meijer]