Alexander von Muralt

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Alexander Ludwig von Muralt (born August 19, 1903 in Zurich ; † May 28, 1990 in Arni BE ) was a Swiss physicist and doctor .

Life

Alexander von Muralt was born in 1903 as the son of the doctor Ludwig von Muralt (1869–1917) and the Philadelphia doctor Florence Hull von Muralt-Watson. The two had met at the Burghölzli Psychiatric University Clinic in Zurich. When his father, who was head of the Davos -Dorf Lung Sanatorium at the time , died unexpectedly of tuberculosis in 1917 at the age of 48 , Alexander von Muralt and his mother moved back to Zurich.

After graduating from the canton school in Zurich, von Muralt began studying at the University of Zurich in 1921 . He studied physics with Erwin Schrödinger and at the same time took the basic scientific subjects of medicine . In 1926 he received the second medical propaedeutic and a year later in 1927 followed the doctoral examination in physics, which he completed summa cum laude . He then went to the Institute for Physical Chemistry at Harvard University in Boston in 1928 , where, under the direction of Edwin Cohn and together with doctoral student John T. Edsall, he investigated the physical-optical properties of the later discovered muscle protein actomyosin . Von Muralt had a lifelong friendship with Edsall. The 27-year-old von Muralt turned down an offered professorship in biophysics at Harvard University in order to complete the clinical part of his medical studies at Heidelberg University . There he continued his work on muscle contraction under Otto Meyerhof at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, today's Max Planck Institute for Medical Research , and was awarded a Dr. med. PhD. He also completed this doctorate summa cum laude. A year later, in 1933, he was appointed private lecturer in physiology . From 1937 to 1946 he was a member of the Senate of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society .

After the National Socialists seized power , von Muralt went to Bern in 1935, he was elected professor of physiology at the University of Bern and took up this post in 1936. In 1938 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . During the Second World War , von Muralt dealt with biophysical studies of the contraction of the skeletal muscle, which was in the foreground in his work at that time. After the war, the physical-optical changes in connection with the nerve conduction moved into his focus. In 1968 he was replaced by Silvio Weidmann as head of the Institute for Physiology at the University of Bern.

From 1935 to 1973 von Muralt held the presidency of the international board of trustees of the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch .

In 1942, the Swiss Foundation for Biological-Medical Grants was established on his initiative. Furthermore, von Muralt was the founder of the private law foundation Swiss National Science Foundation for the Promotion of Scientific Research (SNSF) in 1952. He was president of this foundation. In 1946 he was awarded the Marcel Benoist Prize . In 1947 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . In 1954 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1978 to the American Philosophical Society . Since 1977 he has been a corresponding member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences .

In 1984 von Muralt published his autobiography A life with several facets .

family

Von Muralt descended from the noble family de Muralto, originally from Locarno , who, after converting to the Protestant faith, found a new home in Bern and Zurich in 1555 and soon belonged to the wealthy middle class. Alexander von Muralt was a descendant of the doctor Johannes von Muralt .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Volume 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Series 3, volume 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 176.
  2. ^ Member History: Alexander von Muralt. American Philosophical Society, accessed November 26, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Muralt, Alexander von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Muralt, Alexander Ludwig von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss physicist and physician
DATE OF BIRTH August 19, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 1990
Place of death Arni BE