Fritz Kahn

Fritz Kahn (29 September 1888 – 14 January 1968) was a German-Jewish [1] physician who published popular science books and is known for his illustrations, which pioneered infographics.

He was one of the Jewish refugees assisted by the US agent Varian Fry;[1] in early 1941, with the help of Albert Einstein, they were able to emigrate to the US,[3] where they settled in Manhattan.

[citation needed] After the war, Kahn spent several long periods in Europe between 1948 and 1950, among other places in Ascona, but when it seemed unlikely he would soon be able to return there permanently, he once more settled in New York.

[citation needed]Kahn traveled to Ascona in fall 1967 for health reasons; on 14 January 1968, he died in a clinic in Locarno.

[2] Through the use of often startling metaphors, both verbal and visual, Kahn succeeded in making complex principles of nature and technology comprehensible to a person of average education.

[5] Many are simply "arresting because [they are] drastically extreme visualizations": for example, "In 70 Jahren isst der Mensch 1400-mal sein Gewicht" (In 70 years a person will eat 1,400 times his weight) - which includes 40,000 cigars.

[5] Some of his drawings are inaccurate; when a friend pointed out one error, he responded: "Na ja, falsch ist es schon, aber verständlich!"

Kahn described the human body as "the most competent machine in the world", and his work reflects the technical and cultural state of development of Germany during the Weimar Republic.

His graphics have also inspired some modern work, such as a trailer for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and the ad for the music program Vamos Falar de Música on MTV Brasil.

In 2009 the designer Henning Lederer animated Kahn's "Der Mensch als Industriepalast" (Man as Industrial Palace) as part of a final student project,[6][7] attracting online attention.