Eduard Pernkopf (1888–1955) was an Austrian professor of anatomy, rector of the University of Vienna (1943–1945), member of the Nazi party since 1933, famous for his anatomical atlas, Topographische Anatomie des Menschen (translated as Atlas of Topographical and Applied Human Anatomy).[1]
Pernkopf began his atlas in 1933. He worked 18-hour days dissecting corpses while a team of artist created the images that would eventually be in the atlas. He worked for over two decades on the atlas.[2]
In 1996 Pernkopf and his atlas came into the focus of a controversy in scientific ethics when Dr. Howard Israel, an oral surgeon at Columbia University revealed that it was based on bodies of victims of Nazi terror. The question was discussed whether it is ethical to use Nazi's medical research.[1][3]
With the help of other parties, Dr. Israel directed a request to the University of Vienna to investigate the issue. This resulted in the establishment of the Senatorial Project of the University of Vienna "Studies in Anatomical Science in Vienna from 1938 to 1945" [4] in 1997. The project confirmed that at least 1,377 bodies of executed persons were delivered to the University during the Nazi times and its usage cannot be excluded from at least 800 images of the atlas.[5]
A number of scientists concluded that the continued use of the atlas is desirable in teaching of anatomy, history, and ethics.[5][6]