or Freud, Erdmann and Einstein, 1905 was a banner year. The Father of Psychoanalysis, Freud published his theory of psychosexual development. Eleven years Freud’s junior, Erdmann founded the New World’s first organized anesthesia society (now ASA). Eleven years Erdmann’s junior, Einstein turned 1905 into his miracle year of publications on Brownian motion, specific relativity and the photoelectric effect.

On self-analysis, Freud found himself an anal retentive who fearfully faced the world as a well-groomed, faithful husband. In contrast, his analysis of Einstein would characterize the latter as an anal expulsive who fearlessly defied convention as an unkempt philanderer. Erdmann held the moderate middle ground between Freud and Einstein.

Sigmund Freud, M.D. (1856-1939), Psychoanalyst. 1920 photograph by Max Halberstadt.	A. Frederick Erdmann, M.D. (1867-1953), Anesthesiologist and ASA’s Founder. Photograph courtesy of the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.	Albert Einstein, Ph.D. (1879-1955), Physicist. 1947 photograph by Phillippe Halsman.

Freud, Erdmann and Einstein: Ins and Outs

Retentive Freud
By 1905 Freud theorized two early stages of development: oral and anal. His own oral habits centered around black coffee and smoking cigars. Compulsive about his daily schedule and rituals, Freud considered himself an anal retentive.

Father Freud and his oral habit: cigars (right). 1980 portrait by Ferdie Pacheco. Portrait of Sigmund Freud — the compulsive psychoanalyst (far right). 1940s sketch by Kurt Wiese.

Attentive Erdmann
In contrast to Freud, Erdmann was tighter orally. A teetotaling nonsmoker, “Fred” Erdmann was a deeply religious proponent of temperance. An anal attentive, Erdmann popularized a chart he devised for patients’ anesthetic records.

A.F. Erdmann, photographed circa 1898 (far left). Image courtesy of Colgate University. Erdmann’s chart (left).

Expulsive Einstein
Unlike Freud, Einstein preferred his coffee white and his tobacco tamped in pipes. A Freudian anal expulsive, Einstein was wildly disorganized. The 1921 Nobel Physics Prize saluted Einstein’s (photon in, electron out) explanation of the photoelectric effect.

Albert Einstein — and his oral habit: pipes (right). 1956 portrait by Paul Meltsner. Albert Einstein — his hair unstyled even for this formal 1940s photograph by L. Fabian Bachrach (far right).

Sigmund Freud — resigned in old age to his fears … and to his spectacles (right). 2002 sculpture by Philip Sustachek. Portrait of Sigmund Freud — vainly removing his glasses (far right). 1956 watercolor by Ben Shahn.

Erdmann, (unmasked and standing): "A patient under local anesthetic is calmed by music through ear-phones” (far left). Scientific American, 1933. Erdmann fearlessly wrestled down combative patients to etherize them (left). A 1930s sketch by "Myrtle's Ernest." Both images courtesy of the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.

Albert Einstein — a young, fearless scientist (right). 1999 sculpture by Robert Toth. A 1951 photograph of Albert Einstein — older, but still fearlessly unkempt — as colorized years later by H. Juergen Kuhl (far right).

Freud, Erdmann and Einstein: Intimacy

Freud: The Faithful Romantic
A romantic and loyal husband, Freud honored his wife lifelong. His marital bliss ranged from early years as a “wild man” lover on cocaine to later ones as an impotent but tender husband. Even while racked by cancer pain, Freud cherished his wife as “magic that is never exhausted.”

Sigmund Freud — the colorfully romantic youth (far right). 1980 portrait by Andy Warhol. Sigmund Freud — the cancer-racked faithful husband (right). 1930 portrait by Ferdinand Schmutzer.

Erdmann’s Mistress: ASA
A devout parishioner, Erdmann was a model husband and father. Apparently, Erdmann’s only mistress was the Long Island Society of Anesthetists (the future ASA). Saluted in 1937 as the ASA’s founding member, Erdmann was awarded a Silver Certificate by ASA.

A. Frederick Erdmann, M.D., circa 1946 (far left). Photograph courtesy of the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology. Silver Membership Certificate awarded to Erdmann in 1937 by ASA (left).

Einstein: Brownian Philanderer
Divorcing his first wife, then marrying his cousin, Einstein bounced from lover to lover. His social life paralleled his most cited paper, one on Brownian motion. Einstein lamented, “Lasting harmony with a woman [was] an undertaking in which I twice failed rather disgracefully.”

Albert Einstein, Princeton — acting "on women as a magnet acts on iron filings” (right). 1940 photograph by Lucien Aigner. Searching for Truth — Einstein, truer to physics than to his lovers (far right). 1999 sculpture by Peter Carsillo.

George S. Bause, M.D., is Clinical Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, and is Honorary Curator of the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.

James C. Erickson III, M.D., is Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, and a volunteer consultant to the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.