Albert Schweitzer is a name I know...

I probably first heard the name “Albert Schweitzer” on M.A.S.H on TV as a kid. Even though that was decades past his lifetime, it made sense as he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 (in other words, during the time M.A.S.H was set). He seemed to be a great and noble man, but who was he really?

He started off studying Protestant Theology, as well as music theory, especially the works of Bach and pipe organ history, obtaining degrees in these fields before 1900. But then, he started a study of medicine also, obtaining his MD in 1913.

As a native of the Alsace-Lorraine area, he started his life as a German and his first language was the localised German dialect, but after WWI, that whole area became part of France and Schweitzer took French citizenship, something he held for the rest of his life.

Through much of his life he was a noted scholar of theology, publishing works on Jesus and Saint Paul, as well as his most famous work that led to his philosophy of "Reverence for Life”. It was this work that led to his awarding of the 1952 Peace Prize.