Josef von Halban

Josef von Halban
Born(1870-10-10)10 October 1870
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died23 April 1937(1937-04-23) (aged 66)
Vienna, Austria
NationalityAustrian
Alma materUniversity of Vienna
Spouse
​
(m. 1910)​
ChildrenDésirée Halban (b. 1912)
George Halban [de] (b. 1915)
Scientific career
FieldsObstetrics
Gynaecology
InstitutionsWiedner Spital [de]
Doctoral advisorFriedrich Schauta

Josef von Halban (10 October 1870 – 23 April 1937) was an Austrian obstetrician and gynecologist. He was the husband of opera singer Selma Kurz (1874–1933).

Born to a Jewish family, originally surnamed Blumenstock, in 1894, he obtained his medical doctorate at Vienna, where from 1898 to 1903, he worked as an assistant under Friedrich Schauta. In 1903 he became privat-docent for OB/GYN, becoming an associate professor in 1909.[1]

From 1910 to 1937, he was director of gynecology at the Wiedner Spital [de] in Vienna.[2]

Halban is known for his pioneer research involving inner secretions of the ovaries. He also provided an early description on the endocrine function of the placenta. His name is associated with the following two medical terms:

  • Halban's disease: persistent cystic corpus luteum.
  • Halban's pregnancy sign: indicator concerning increased hair-growth of pregnant women.[3]
  1. ^ Biography, Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950.
  2. ^ The collected clinical works of Alfred Adler.
  3. ^ Victor C. Medvei. "The history of clinical endocrinology"