Curt P. Richter

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Curt Paul Richter (born February 20, 1894 in Denver , Colorado , USA ; † December 21, 1988 ) was an American psychologist and behavioral scientist .

life and work

Curt Richter's ancestors come from the Kingdom of Saxony on both his mother's and father's side . His father, who had studied engineering after several years of military service in Germany , had emigrated to the USA in 1890, settled in Denver and founded a company there that produced steel elements for house construction. In 1892 his wife followed him to his new home, where their only child was born two years later. Shortly before the boy's ninth birthday, the father died in a hunting accident. In 1985, Richter wrote in an autobiographical text that thanks to reliable employees, the father's company continued to exist, so that the mother - who now worked as a secretary and chief financial officer without previous experience - was able to work for herself and her son.

Richter attended Whittier Grade School for eight years and then East Denver High School without ever developing a special interest in biology. Instead, in June 1912, after graduating from high school, he followed his father's wish to study engineering in Germany. He chose the Technical University of Dresden , which was considered one of the best German technical universities. However, he gradually lost interest in his subject, not least because after the outbreak of World War I his studies were only possible to a limited extent because of the many students and teachers who had been drafted into the military. Therefore, he went back to Boston in May 1915. There he enrolled at Harvard University , which only recognized two of his three years of study in Germany. He took a course in economics, which he had to leave after six weeks due to poor performance, and also failed in courses in European history and the genetics of the fly Drosophila melanogaster . First lectures of the philosopher and psychologist Edwin B. Holt aroused his interest in natural history and psychological issues, he that when Robert Yerkes successful behavioral experiments with insects performed and was encouraged by Yerkes, which in 1914 by John B. Watson wrote textbook Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology .

Shortly after he graduated from Harvard in 1917 with a Bachelor of Science degree, he was drafted into military service, which he served near Boston until 1918. In 1919 he went to the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to study with John B. Watson. In 1921 Richter made his doctorate ( Ph.D. ) in psychology there and received a position as associate professor in psychology at the School of Medicine (medical faculty). In 1922 he was appointed director of the psychology laboratory at Johns Hopkins Hospital's Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, and in 1957 he became professor of psychobiology . From 1919 to 1988 he was associated with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, from 1922 to 1960 the Johns Hopkins Hospital .

Richter published more than 250 scientific articles on the domestication of the brown rat and in the research areas of the sympathetic nervous system , ingestion of food ( ingestive behaviors ), the grasping reflex and skin resistance in humans, as well as biological clocks in animals and humans. His best known work is the book Biological Clocks in Medicine and Psychiatry (1965). The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archive contains most of the documents on his research (research data from experiments on more than 20,000 animals (1920–1976), photographs, correspondence), as well as recording and measuring devices used by him.

Honors

He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1948, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1956, and the American Philosophical Society in 1959.

Reference books

  • Biological Clocks In Medicine and Psychiatry. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois 1965.
  • The Psychobiology of Curt Richter. York Press, Baltimore 1976, ISBN 978-0-912752-05-1 .

literature

  • Jay Schulkin: Curt Richter: A Life in the Laboratory. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 978-0-8018-8073-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Curt P. Richter: It's a Long Long Way to Tipperary, the Land of my Genes. In: Donald A. Dewsbury: Studying Animal Behavior. Autobiographies of the Founders. Chicago University Press, Chicago and London 1985, ISBN 978-0-226-14410-8 , pp. 356-386, here: p. 357.
  2. ↑ An example: About the phenomenon of sudden death in animals and humans (PDF; 706 kB)
personal data
SURNAME Richter, Curt P.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Richter, Curt Paul (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American psychologist and behaviorist
DATE OF BIRTH February 20, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Denver , Colorado , USA
DATE OF DEATH December 21, 1988