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GODFREY HOCHBAUM WAS, for many years, a leading figure in health behavior and health education and the application of behavioral science in public health. He is most noted for the development of and research surrounding the Health Belief Model (HBM), one of the most widely used models for understanding health behaviors. The HBM arose from his landmark study with the US Public Health Service in the early 1950s in which he examined factors associated with participation in tuberculosis screening programs.1,2 Hochbaum was one of the first social scientists hired by the US Public Health Service as part of the new Behavioral Science Section.3
Hochbaum was born November 19, 1916, in Austria. His family immigrated to the United States in 1938. During World War II he served as an intelligence officer in the US Army. He completed his PhD degree at the University of Minnesota in 1952. From 1957 to 1967 he was Assistant Chief and then Chief of the Behavioral Science Section of the US Public Health Service. From 1972 to 1988 he was a professor in the Department of Behavioral Science and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Throughout his career, Hochbaum received a number of distinguished awards and recognitions in the health sciences (e.g.,...