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Ernest L Wynder

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Ernest L Wynder
Personal details
Birth nameErnst Ludwig Wynder
Born30 April 1922
Herford, Westphalia
Died14 July 1999
Manhattan, New York
NativityGermany
ReligionJewish
Known forLinking smoking with lung cancer
AwardsRobert Koch Prize (gold, 1990)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch United States Army
ASN32926486
RankPrivate
Camp RitchieClass 17 (11 March – 8 May 1944)
EnlistedNewark, New Jersey
Awards and honors
  • Robert Koch Prize (Gold, 1990)
Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.
Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.


Ernest L. Wynder (30 April 1922 – 14 July 1999), born Ernst Ludwig Wynder in Herford, Germany, was a Jewish Ritchie Boy and later an American epidemiologist and public-health researcher. With Evarts A. Graham he published the landmark 1950 Journal of the American Medical Association study that helped identify smoking as a contributory cause of lung cancer—work that shaped decades of cancer prevention research.

Biography[edit | edit source]

Wynder was born in Herford, Westphalia in 1922 to Jewish parents (a cousin of Robert Weinberg). Ernst Ludwig Wynder was born on 30 April 1922 in Herford, Westphalia, to Jewish parents. In 1938 his family fled Nazi Germany for the United States, where he enrolled at New York University.

Roster and enlistment records list him as Ernest L Wynder (ASN 32926486), a German-born Jewish trainee associated with Camp Ritchie; he enlisted from Newark, New Jersey, with four years of college noted on the service record.

In 1938 his family escaped Nazi rule and fled to the United States, where Wynder enrolled at New York University. After the war, he attended medical school at Washington University in St. After the war Wynder studied medicine at Washington University in St.

In 1950, he received both a Bachelor of Science and a medical degree. Graham he published the landmark 1950 Journal of the American Medical Association study "Tobacco Smoking as a Possible Etiologic Factor in Bronchiogenic Carcinoma," one of the first major scientific papers to identify smoking as a contributory cause of lung cancer. In 1969, he founded the American Health Foundation.

Wynder spent the 1950s and 1960s at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, published hundreds of papers on cancer epidemiology (including lung, breast, and many other sites), founded the American Health Foundation in 1969, and in 1972 founded the journal Preventive Medicine, which he edited. In 1972, he founded the academic journal Preventive Medicine and served as the founding editor. He received the Robert Koch Prize (Gold) in 1990.

His and Evarts Ambrose Graham's joint publication of "Tobacco Smoking as a Possible Etiologic Factor in Bronchiogenic Carcinoma: A Study of 684 Proved Cases" appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It was one of the first major scientific publications to identify smoking as a contributory cause of lung cancer. During World War II, he attained citizenship and joined the U.S.

Army, where, as a German-speaker, he was assigned to a psychological warfare unit to monitor German newscasts. Aside from his credentials as a physician, Wynder was a researcher, educator, and activist. He devoted his career to the study and prevention of cancer and chronic disease, publishing hundreds of scientific papers.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, he worked at Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. During the Second World War he became a U.S. Citizen and served in the Army as a German speaker.

Wikipedia records that he was assigned to psychological warfare work monitoring German newscasts. He also appears in a wartime group photograph of Ritchie Boys preserved in the U.S.

(32791342)|Peter Weidenreich]] (later Wyden), and Joseph Eaton (see gallery caption for the full identification). Louis, receiving both a Bachelor of Science and an M.D.

As a medical student he began the epidemiological work that made his scientific reputation. With thoracic surgeon Evarts A. Follow-up laboratory work with Graham showed that cigarette tar could produce cancers in mice and helped identify carcinogens in tobacco smoke.

Ernst Ludwig Wynder (April 30, 1922 – July 14, 1999) was an American epidemiology and public health researcher who studied the health effects of smoking tobacco. Wynder died from thyroid cancer on July 14, 1999.


Gallery[edit | edit source]

Technical record[edit | edit source]

Field Imported value
Approx Age at Death 77
Nara ASN 32926486
Nara Name WYNDER ERNEST
Nara State 22
Nara County 13
Nara POE 2252
Nara DOE 70643
Nara Grade Alpha PVT
Nara Grade Code 8
Nara Branch Alpha NO
Nara Branch Code 2
Branch No branch assignment
Nara Term or Enlistment 5
Term of enlistment Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Defer. Date 0
Nara Source 0
Nara Nativity N1
Nara Year of Birth 22
Nara Race J
Nara Race Description White not yet a citizen
Nara Education 8
Nara Civilian Occupation 992
Nara Marital Status 6
Nara Height (inches) 43
Nara Weight (lbs) 444
row_source demographics

Timeline[edit | edit source]

  • 7 June 1943 — Enlisted in Army at Newark, NJ as Pvt (ASN: 32926486).
  • Non-graduate of Class 17 (‘dropped’ and assigned to MRBC5).

Sources[edit | edit source]

  • Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
  • Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
  • NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
  • 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
  • Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2021-08-11 (1 post)
  • Wikipedia: Ernst Wynder
  • Dan Gross, Timeline of Ernest L Wynder for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
  • Dan Gross, Timeline of Wynder, Ernest L for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: ERNEST WYNDER.docx)