[Harald Selmer - the father of Danish psychiatry].

Abstract

Harald Selmer is rightly called the father of Danish psychiatry. He was born in 1814, and received in 1831 his degree in medicine from the University of Copenhagen. At the age of 32 he published his famous book on the "general rules ..." of a national system of psychiatric hospitals with high professional standards. He was chosen to lead the erection of the first of these hospitals, the later university psychiatric hospital in Aarhus, opening in 1852. Not only was Harald Selmer in charge of the construction of this monumental hospital, he was also the appointed director of the hospital for the first 27 years of the hospital's history, until his retirement in 1879. Harald Selmer was recognized as a great builder, a great leader and - very important - as an excellent writer, who understood the art of communicating his messages in a clear and convincing language. Harald Selmers tombstone is still to be found on the old hospital burial ground.