Archibald Vivian Hill

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Archibald Vivian Hill
(before 1923)

Archibald Vivian Hill (born September 26, 1886 in Bristol , England , † June 3, 1977 in Cambridge , England) was a British physiologist and physiological chemist . In 1922, together with Otto Fritz Meyerhof, he received the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his discoveries in the field of heat generation in muscles .

biography

Early years and education

Archibald Vivian Hill was born in Bristol, England in 1886. He studied mathematics at Trinity College , Cambridge, and also received his PhD in this subject. He then got a job with the physiologist WM Fletcher, who at that time was secretary of the Medical Research Council in Cambridge and who researched the processes in muscle tissue . Hill decided to work in the area as well.

Switch to muscle physiology

In 1909, Archibald Vivian Hill began his own research on muscles in the Department of Physiology at the University of Cambridge, with the aim of experimentally determining the energy released during muscle work . He built on the research work of the German physiologist Hermann von Helmholtz , who was unable to achieve any results due to the lack of measurement technology. After his study visit to Germany in the winter of 1910/11, Hill developed a special thermocouple with which he was able to determine small temperature fluctuations as changes in the voltage generated on a bimetal and thus make them measurable. In this way he was able to measure a difference of 0.003 ° C in the muscle at intervals of a few hundredths of a second.

Up until 1913 he was able to determine in this way that a muscle only produced heat after the actual muscle work and the associated consumption of oxygen . He also found that around 70 percent of the chemical energy converted during muscle work is released in the form of heat, making the muscles of the body the most important source of heat for the organism.

The application of its results

In 1920 Archibald Vivian Hill became Professor of Physiology, and from 1926 until his retirement in 1952 he was also Professor at the Biophysical Laboratory at University College Cambridge. He received the Nobel Prize for elucidating the thermodynamic processes in muscles, while his colleague Otto Fritz Meyerhof was honored for researching the relationship between oxygen turnover and lactic acid production . By combining the results of both researchers, it was possible to take a comprehensive look at muscle work with its physical and chemical side effects.

In 1924 he discovered the maximum oxygen uptake (VO 2 max) and coined the terms O 2 deficit , steady state and O 2 exhaust , which are still used today in sports science .

In 1933 he assisted William Henry Beveridge in founding the Academic Assistance Council (AAC, today Council for Assisting Refugee Academics ), of which he became the first vice-president.

Parliamentarians

From 1940 to 1945 he represented his university in one of its two seats in the House of Commons.

Private

In 1913 Hill married Margaret Neville (1885–1974), daughter of the economist John Neville Keynes , sister of John Maynard (1883–1946) and Geoffrey Keynes (1887–1982).

Further awards

In 1918 he was elected as a member (" Fellow ") in the Royal Society , which awarded him in 1926 with the Royal Medal and in 1948 with the Copley Medal . Since 1929 he was a foreign member of the Roman Accademia dei Lincei . In 1925 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina , in 1934 in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1938 in the American Philosophical Society and in 1941 in the National Academy of Sciences . In 1966 he received the Cothenius Medal of the Leopoldina.

Fonts (selection)

  • Muscular Activity. Baltimore 1926.
  • Traits and Trials in Physiology. London 1965.
  • First and Last Experiments in Muscle Mechanics. Cambridge 1970.

literature

Web links

Commons : Archibald Hill  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ute Deichmann: Hill, Archibald Vivian. 2005, p. 596.
  2. ^ Wildor Hollmann and Theodor Hettinger: Sports medicine. 4th edition, Schattauer, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-7945-1672-9 , p. 333
  3. ^ History. cara1933.org, archived from the original on May 7, 2015 ; accessed on September 4, 2013 .
  4. ^ Biographical information on Hill
  5. ^ Member History: Archibald V. Hill. American Philosophical Society, accessed September 30, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Hill, Archibald Vivian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British physiologist and politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Bristol
DATE OF DEATH 3rd June 1977
Place of death Cambridge