Breuer, the Renaissance Man

Josef Breuer was educated at home by his father and was able to read by age 4. In 1850, at age 8, Breuer entered the Akademisches Gymnasium, a secondary school in Vienna that placed particular emphasis on the natural sciences. Breuer began his medical training at the University of Vienna in the winter term of 1859–1860. Breuer planned to become a professor at the university, but multiple factors interfered with these plans. He made a clean cut with the university system by resigning his lectureship in 1885. Despite this, Breuer maintained close contacts with many members of the medical faculty at the university who became his friends and patients in his private practice. Election to the Academy of Sciences in 1884, a rare accomplishment for a practicing physician, undoubtedly lessened the disappointment of not receiving a professorship at the medical school.