Erismann was born in
Gontenschwil, Switzerland. In 1867, Erismann earned his medical doctorate at the
University of Zurich, subsequently furthering his studies in ophthalmology in
Heidelberg,
Vienna and
Berlin. In 1867 he married
Nadezhda Suslova, and two years later relocated to
Saint Petersburg as an
ophthalmologist. His interests soon turned to issues such as public health and conditions of the poor. In the early 1870s he studied
hygiene and
physiology in
Munich, where his instructors were
Max von Pettenkofer (1818–1901) and
Carl von Voit (1831–1908). Following participation in
Russo-Turkish War, he moved to
Moscow, where from 1881 he served as a lecturer at the
University of Moscow. In 1884 he was appointed professor of
hygiene and director at the institute of hygiene. At the University of Moscow, one of his students was playwright
Anton Chekhov. In 1870 he invented the new construction of
school desk which was used in Russian schools till the beginning of 1960s. Erismann was a pioneer of scientific hygiene in Russia, and sought to improve
water quality and
food standards in St. Petersburg and Moscow. In 1896 Erismann was dismissed from his position at Moscow for political reasons, as he expressed support of student revolutionaries and denounced the living conditions of the Russian people. Afterwards, he returned to Switzerland and became involved with political and health issues in
Zürich. He published in German and Russian. Among his numerous writings was
Gesundheitslehre für Gebildete aller Stände (Health education for the educated of all classes), a book that was published in several editions. == References ==