Albert Schweitzer

Schweitzer, Albert (1875–1965), German physician, theologian, missionary, musician, and philosopher. He was an authority on Bach and a noted performer of Bach's organ music. He abandoned an academic career in theology to study medicine and became (1913) a missionary doctor in French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon). He devoted his life to the hospital he founded there. His many writings include The Quest of the Historical Jesus (1906), and The Decay and Restoration of Civilization and Civilization and Ethics (1923), the first two volumes of his Philosophy of Civilization. Schweitzer won the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his inspiring humanitarian work.