Friedrich Franz Friedmann


Friedrich Franz Friedmann was a tuberculosis researcher in Berlin who came to New York City to give what he called the "turtle vaccine" to people who came to his clinic in 1913. He claimed to have developed a strain capable of providing immunity, by passing the strain through turtles.

Biography

He was born on October 26, 1876 in Berlin. He arrived in the United States in 1913 with his secretary, Charles de Vidal Hundt, his assistant, Dr. Harry Benjamin, and his brother, Arthur C. H. Friedmann. He sold the American rights to the cure for $125,000 in cash to set up thirty-six Friedrich F. Friedmann Institutes that were to be in thirty-six states. The New York City Board of Health rejected his claims and the clinic was closed. He died on February 19, 1953 in Monte Carlo.