Isaac Seth Hirsch was an American radiologist and educator. He served as an X-ray photographer at Bellevue Hospital, professor of roentgenology in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School, and professor of radiology at the College of Medicine of New York University.
Background
Isaac Seth Hirsch was born on December 3, 1880 in New York City, New York, United States. He was one of the five sons and two daughters of Abram and Ida (Sable) Hirsch, orthodox Jews of Russian birth. Family circumstances appear to have been fairly good, since he and one of his brother was able to receive education.
Education
Hirsch attended the College of the City of New York (1895-1898). He then entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, where he received the Doctor of Medicine degree in 1902.
In 1920 he received a diploma in radiology from Cambridge University, England.
Career
Following an internship at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City, Hirsch was attracted to research in bacteriology but, for economic reasons, chose to engage in the private practice of general medicine and pediatrics. Soon, however, he turned to radiology, and in 1910 he was appointed "X-ray photographer" at Bellevue Hospital, a post in which he continued (under various titles) until 1926. In 1914 he was made professor of roentgenology in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School. After wartime service in the army medical corps, Hirsch returned to his hospital duties.
In 1920 he published his first textbook, The Principles and Practice of Roentgenological Technique. A second book, The Principles and Practice of Roentgen Therapy, appeared in 1925. Before the opening of the new Beth Israel Hospital in 1928, Hirsch planned its X-ray department, of which he was the director until shortly before his death. In 1933 he became professor of radiology at the College of Medicine of New York University. During these years he carried out studies in the use of Xrays in recording heart sounds and studying the valvular actions that produced them. Neither his textbooks nor his threescore papers, however, blazed new trails in medicine; a well-educated and widely experienced radiologist, Hirsch was an organizer and expounder rather than an original investigator.
Throughout his professional life Hirsch maintained a private practice in radiology, the income from which enabled him to travel frequently in Europe and, while at home, to develop his considerable skills in sculpture, painting, and playwriting.
Hirsch died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, of cardiovascular disease, in his sixty-second year.
Achievements
Religion
Although Hirsch himself was not religious, he was buried according to orthodox rites.
Membership
Hirsch founded the New York Physicians Art Club and entered some of his own works at its annual exhibitions.
Personality
A former colleague has described Hirsch as "fast-moving, well-dressed, and articulate" with "an aristocratic appearance and a shock of white hair" and a personality that could be "antagonistically vibrant. " Keenly intelligent, with an explosive temperament, he was sometimes bitingly critical of others, including his students, who, however, usually came to remember with affection his ability as a radiologist and skill and diligence as a teacher.
Connections
In 1924 Hirsch married Lila Calhoun Hindsman of Fort Worth, Texas. They had no children.