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Introduction
Klaus Riegel, when asked about his distinguished career, claims that there is nothing worth mentioning, other than the fact that he has always been lucky. He was born May 14, 1926, and attended school in the Swabian town of Schorndorf in Southern Germany. Near the end of World War II, he was recruited, at the age of 17, for military service in both the German air force (Luftwaffe) and as a naval cadet on the Baltic Sea. He had the good luck to return home intact, in November 1945, after captivity as a prisoner of war.
Riegel wanted to be a physician, but he did not want to follow his father into a career as a general practitioner. Rather, he became a pediatrician because he had the good luck to encounter a charismatic teacher at the University of Tübingen, Professor Alfred Nitschke, Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics. Because of Nitschke “I went into pediatrics for 14 months, but stayed for 40 years,” says Riegel. “But, really, all my ‘luck' started when I met Elsbeth,” who became his wife.
The Many Faces of Klaus Riegel
Gentleman
The young doctor Riegel had had excellent pediatric training and already had become a respected member of the rather formal pediatric community at the venerable University of Tübingen when a new chairman arrived. Professor Klaus Betke came to Tübingen from Freiburg, along with his Fellow, Enno Kleihauer. At his first clinical rounds, Betke watched his new faculty bending over their patients with neckties swinging back and forth. “For hygienic reasons,” all neckties were immediately forbidden throughout the Department. The medical staff complained, but obeyed. Not so Klaus Riegel; he has worn a bow tie ever since (Fig. 1).
“Klaus Riegel thanks” for his 80th birthday party by Klaus P. Riegel, 2006, watercolor and felt pen.
Physiologist
In 1959, Riegel followed his …
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