Hoffmann, Richard H. (Richard Horace), 1887-

Richard H. Hoffmann (Cornell University M.D. 1908) was a psychiatrist, neurologist and criminologist. Born in Vienna, he received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, and also studied in Berlin, Munich, and Vienna, eventually specializing in nervous and mental diseases. He was associated with the Neurological Institute and Post Graduate Hospital on Randall's Island; wrote several books including THE STRUGGLE FOR HEALTH, 1929, THE GIRL IN POISON COTTAGE, 1953, and CONQUEST OF TENSION, 1961; and wrote for newspapers and magazines including the SUNDAY GRAPHIC, the NEW YORK REVIEW, TRUE CONFESSIONS, ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE and THE AMERICAN WEEKLY. He became president of the Institute for Human-Animal Relationships, an organization concerned with the tranquilizing and beneficial effects animals have on the elderly and infirm. He also testified in many famous legal cases including the Creighton-Applegate murder trial, the Two-Gun Crowley murder trial, and examined Bruno Hauptmann in the Lindbergh kidnapping trial and John LaMarca in the Peter Weinberger kidnapping trial. He maintained that the criminal nature could be detected through facial characteristics. He died in 1968.