Bergh was also an active malacologist, i.e. a zoologist who studies molluscs, in particular the nudibranchs, shell-less marine gastropods.

Bergh graduated from the Det von Westenske Institut in 1842, and received his medical degree in 1849.

[1] At that hospital, anyone who wished to could be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, and get advice on safe sex and birth control without any change and while retaining their anonymity.

[2] Among the many texts that Rudolph Bergh wrote was About Tattoos in the public woman, which was published in the Hospital Journal in 1891.

The article seems antiquated today and should not be taken as the sole expression of Rudolph Bergh great efforts to improve public health and in particular reduce the harmful effects of sexually transmitted diseases.

[citation needed] Bergh was also one of the editors of the hospital magazine Hospitalstidende, where he published nearly all of his over 50 medical articles.

[3] Bergh started to study molluscs when he was nearly 30, probably under the influence of Japetus Steenstrup, a Danish biologist who was 11 years older than he was and who was a professor of zoology at the University of Copenhagen.

[citation needed] His colleague and friend was German ethnologist and animal ecologist Carl Semper.