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Top 10 Interesting Facts about Albert Schweitzer

He may be a forgotten, or even a contentious, figure today, but a half-century or more ago, the very mention of the name Schweitzer conjured up ideas of sacrifice, courage, and the very paradigm of a contemporary, humanitarian physician.

Albert Schweitzer dedicated his life to service and, as such, demonstrated the art of medicine by serving the impoverished. Schweitzer’s lesson is still relevant today: “There is no higher motto than to live a life of service.” Albert Schweitzer is one of the twentieth century’s most well-known and renowned philosophers.

His work earned him widespread appreciation. His theological and philosophical study of Jesus’ life also contributed to his notoriety.

Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer was born in Kaysersberg, Alsace, on January 14, 1875. Less than four years earlier, Alsace-Lorraine had been annexed by the German Empire after having been a French colony for more than two centuries.

Alsace had reverted to being a French colony following World War I, and Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer later became a citizen of France. He was the son of Louis Schweitzer and Adèle Schillinger. Here are the top 10 interesting facts about him.

1. Schweitzer studied philosophy and theology at the University of Strasbourg

Strasbourg University. Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie. Iconographic Collections –

Schweitzer began studying evangelical theology at the Kaiser Wilhelm University in Strasbourg in 1893.

There, he also studied piano and counterpoint under professor Gustav Jacobsthal and formed close bonds with Ernest Munch, the organist of St. William Church and the brother of his former instructor, who was a fervent fan of J. S. Bach’s music.

At the University, he obtained a doctorate in philosophy in 1899, with a dissertation on the religious philosophy of Kant, and received his licentiate in theology in 1900.

2. Schweitzer served his one-year compulsory military service in 1894

In 1894, he had to go for his one-year compulsory military service. On his return, he resumed his studies in theology and music, concurrently, attending the operas of Richard Wagner, and visiting Bayreuth Festival in 1896.

3. Schweitzer rose to fame as an organist and music scholar

Eivind Groven and Albert Schweitzer photo by Oslo Museum –

Schweitzer started his career as an organist in Strasbourg in 1893. As an organist and music researcher who also devoted himself to the preservation, repair, and study of old pipe organs, Schweitzer rose to prominence quickly.

In addition to becoming a skilled musician during this time. His organ instructor in Â鶹APP, Charles-Marie Widor, identified Schweitzer as a Bach interpreter with exceptional sensitivity and commissioned him to write a study of the composer’s life and work.

The result was J.S. Bach: le musicien-poète (1905). In this piece, Schweitzer compared Bach’s music to the impersonal, cosmic forces of nature and saw him as a holy mystic.

4. He was a medical missionary in Africa

Farewell to Albert Schweitzer in Lambarene photo by Freyer, Jörg –

He was a medical missionary in Africa. Through his hospital, Schweitzer hospital, he offered free medical care to the residents of Lambarane in Gabon. Schweitzer held benefit concerts across Europe to raise money for his hospital in Africa.

He was compassionate. He was an organist who performed Johann Bach’s compositions and a theorist of music. People were awed by his missionary work in Africa. Instead of evangelizing and converting people to Christianity, he just promoted his services.

He believed that rather than trying to win over the hearts of the populace, the conflicts on the continent were intended to grow the empire.

5. He became the eighth Frenchman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize

One of the famous quotes by Dr Albert Schweitzer on thinking photo by Utkarshsingh.1992 –

He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of “Reverence for Life”. Albert Schweitzer received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 and accepted it with the address ‘The Problem of Peace.’ Everyone praised his service and missionary activities in Africa.

6. He is known for his famous philosophy, Reverence for Life

Remembered both as a best-selling author and a medical missionary, Schweitzer is best revered for his philosophy of life, whose basic tenet was ‘Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben’. Meaning ‘Reverence for Life.

One day in 1915 on a boat on the Ogooué River, Schweitzer had an almost mystical revelatory experience. This led him to concentrate his disparate energies on the notion and ethos of reverence for all life.

It was this passion that made the doctor well known, sometimes notorious because he did not want to kill mosquitoes or bees or any other living things, even though they add to the misery by spreading diseases.

He felt that reverence for life, for which he presented little philosophical justification but toward which he assembled all his religious energies, made its claims on humans, whose future depended upon how they regarded all life.

7. Schweitzer used his reputation to campaign against nuclear arms

Schweitzer used his reputation after WWII to campaign against nuclear weapons. After being greatly shaken by the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he established The Declaration of Conscience in 1957.

Schweitzer was a founding member of The Committee for a Responsible Nuclear Policy. He worked on a test-ban pact with such prominent peace activists as Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein. He began lobbying against nuclear tests and nuclear weapons in 1952.

He delivered four speeches on Radio Oslo in 1957. These were included in his final book, ‘Peace or Atomic War.’ He also co-founded The Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy the same year.

8. Schweitzer was somewhat shy and diffident

Albert Schweitzer in Lambarene 1964 photo by Gert Chesi –

His fame rose over time, and celebrities went to see him at Lambaréné in the same way that later generations would travel to see Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997).

Schweitzer, on the other hand, remained shy and disliked being photographed. “My trouble,” complained Erica Anderson, “is that Schweitzer is very camera shy, always stiffening up and posing…. I wonder if I’ll ever get him on film as he is.”

“I don’t think he’s aware of his importance,” said Anderson’s financial backer, Jerome Hill.

9. Schweitzer received numerous honours and awards in his life

Albert Schweitzer earned various awards, such as the Frankfurt Goethe Prize and honorary doctorates from several universities, all of which emphasized one or more of his accomplishments. In 1952, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

He built the famous leprosarium at Lambaréné with the award money. Queen Elizabeth II made Schweitzer a special honorary member of England’s Order of Merit in 1955. He was also a chevalier of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem.

10. His grave is marked by a cross he made himself

The grave of Dr Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) is on the grounds of the Schweitzer Hospital in Lambarene, Gabon, Central Africa photo by David Stanley –

On September 4, 1965, Schweitzer passed away in his beloved hospital in Lambaréné, which is today part of independent Gabon. His grave, on the banks of the Ogooué River, is marked by a cross he made himself.