Walter S. Börnstein
After a long hiatus, we're excited to be diving back into this project! Our first scholar this calendar year is our second psychologist, and our first to come as part of a husband/wife duo.
Walter S. Börnstein, a specialist in clinical neurology and physiology of the senses, was born in 1890 in Berlin. From 1919 through 1933 he held various research positions at the University of Frankfurt and Bonn University. When the expulsion of Jewish professors from German universities began in earnest in the academic year of 1934-35, Börnstein moved to the United Kingdom. While there he conducted research with Lancelot Hogben on the functional coalition of vision and motion at the London School of Economics. Börnstein’s research at the LSE continued until 1937, when the Department of Social Biology that Hogben had spearheaded lost its funding. Since British universities in the late 1930s strictly guarded their academic positions against émigré scholars, Börnstein would have found few other employment opportunities in the UK.
Turning his sights across the Atlantic, Börnstein arrived in the United States in September 1937, followed by his wife, Maria, in November. By 1940, Walter Börnstein was researching the cortical localization of the taste mechanism at Yale Medical School, assisted by his wife (who herself had been a psychoanalytic researcher in Berlin). In that year Walter published his findings in two articles in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. Shortly thereafter, the Börnsteins visited Vassar College for two weeks in December 1940 under the auspices of its Committee on Displaced Scholars. During his stay at Vassar, he addressed psychology and physiology classes in addition to presenting a lecture to a larger audience. His lecture, entitled “Can Functions Be Localized in the Brain,” was open to the public and employed motion pictures to illustrate his talking points. Both Börnsteins were very well received by the Psychology Department; Professor Ruth Conklin wrote Dr. Walter Börnstein a letter of recommendation saying, "It is inspiring to see a man who has not merely exhibited distinction in his scientific work, but who shows unfailing enthusiasm in the face of trying conditions."
After concluding his research at Yale, Börnstein moved to New York City. By 1942, however, he was unemployed and looking to open a medical practice. He and his wife continued to live in New York City for the rest of their lives, securing US citizenship by the 1950s, but it is clear that their forced expulsion from Germany ultimately derailed the careers of both Walter and Maria.
Works by Börnstein:
Über den Geruchsinn (Deutsche Zeitschrift für Nervenheilkunde, 1928)
Cortical Representation of Taste in Man and Monkey: I. Functional and Anatomical Relations of Taste, Olfaction, and Somatic Sensibility (The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 1940)
Cortical Representation of Taste in Man and Monkey: II. The Localization of the Cortical Taste Area in Man and a Method of Measuring Impairment of Taste in Man (The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 1940)
Sources:
"Bornstein Lectures on Sensory Localization." Vassar Miscellany News 14 Dec. 1940: 1. Vassar Newspaper Archive. Web.
"Bornstein Studies Vision and Motion." Vassar Miscellany News 11 Dec. 1940: 1. Vassar Newspaper Archive. Web.
"Bornsteins Spend Two Weeks Here." Vassar Miscellany News 7 Dec. 1940: 1+. Vassar Newspaper Archive. Web
Displaced German Scholars: A Guide to Academics in Peril in Nazi Germany During the 1930s. Borgo Press, 1993.
New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957. Year: 1937; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 6036; Line: 25; Page Number: 151
U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942. The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System, 1926-1975; Record Group Number: 147