David Nachmansohn

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David Nachmansohn (born March 17, 1899 in Jekaterinoslav , † November 2, 1983 in New York City ) was a German physiologist and biochemist.

Live and act

David Nachmansohn was a son of the Lithuanian businessman Moses Nachmansohn (1866-1944) and his wife Regina Klinkowstein († 1943) from Lublin . His father emigrated to Switzerland in 1933. Nachmansohn's parents were considered liberal, artistically and culturally extremely committed. He spent his childhood and youth in Berlin , received a classical humanistic education and was interested in the natural sciences. As a teenager and student, he dealt with the Zionism that shaped him. He chose to study medicine so that he might then be able to work in Palestine.

Nachmansohn completed his studies in Berlin and Heidelberg. In 1926 he received his doctorate. med. Then he got to know modern biochemistry techniques as an employee of Peter Rona in the chemical department of the Pathological Institute of the Berlin Charité. He then moved to Otto Meyerhof at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Berlin-Dahlem . Here he met Severo Ochoa and Hans A. Krebs , with whom he remained friends until the end of his life. During his time in Dahlem he was shaped in particular by Meyerhoff, with whom he worked closely, and the working groups around Otto Warburg , Fritz Haber and Carl Neuberg .

When his teacher Meyerhoff moved to Heidelberg, Nachmansohn decided for economic reasons for further clinical training with the aim of getting a permanent position in research-based medicinal chemistry. In 1933 he emigrated from the German Reich and worked for René Wurmser at the Laboratoire de Physiologie générale in Paris and the marine biological station in Arcachon . During this time he continued to work on the carbohydrate metabolism in muscles, for example. Then he was inspired by studies by Otto Loewi and HH Dales and from 1936 onwards he dealt with acetylcholine . The following year he found that this neurotransmitter produced electrical reactions in the central nervous system and the muscle endplate. In the field of research on synaptic transmission and cholinergic stimulation, he established the electric tissue of the electric ray as a model system.

In 1939 Nachmansohn was the first to describe acetylcholinesterase . In the same year he moved to the Medical School at Yale University . Here he discovered choline acetyltransferase and described for the first time that ATP is involved in a non-phosphorylating reaction and also a new acetylating cofactor. Fritz Lipmann later stated that this order coenzyme A negotiated.

In 1942 he was appointed to the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1942 . From 1955 to 1968 he worked there as a full professor of biochemistry. Several important biochemical discoveries were made in his laboratory: he was able to isolate eletroplaques from electric rays, as well as the acetylcholine receptor and classify it as a protein complex. In addition, he described for the first time theoretically bioelectrical phenomena on a molecular level, placing the acetylcholine system at the center of his considerations. The majority of his theoretical approaches could later be proven in experiments. However, critics also accused him of working too one-sidedly and overestimating the importance of the acetylcholine system.

Nachmansohn dealt extensively with the enzymatic hydrolysis of acetylcholine. His investigations on this made it possible to understand the principle of action of several insecticides and war poisons. The United States Department of Defense commissioned him and Irwin B. Wilson to develop an antidote for these substances. This represented an important development in molecular pharmacology.

Nachmansohn committed himself lifelong to worldwide cooperation between scientists. In his laboratory he employed more than a hundred students and employees who were actively involved in the field of neurochemistry. Immediately after the end of the Second World War , he re-established contacts in Germany and repeatedly traveled to the country and to Berlin.

Nachmansohn married Edith Berger (* 1903 in Berlin) in Berlin in 1929, who worked as a doctor of medicine. The daughter Ruth Deborah Rothschild, born in 1931, worked as an art historian in New York.

Honors

Nachmansohn received several awards for his services:

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Engel:  Nachmansohn, David. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 681 ( digitized version ).
  2. ↑ Michael Engel:  Nachmansohn, David. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 681 f. ( Digitized version ).
  3. ↑ Michael Engel:  Nachmansohn, David. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 682 ( digitized version ).
  4. ↑ Michael Engel:  Nachmansohn, David. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 682 ( digitized version ).
  5. ↑ Michael Engel:  Nachmansohn, David. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 682 ( digitized version ).
  6. ↑ Michael Engel:  Nachmansohn, David. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 682 ( digitized version ).
  7. ↑ Michael Engel:  Nachmansohn, David. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 682 ( digitized version ).
  8. ↑ Michael Engel:  Nachmansohn, David. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 681 ( digitized version ).
  9. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter N. (PDF; 283 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Accessed October 10, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Nachmansohn, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physiologist and biochemist
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Ekaterinoslav
DATE OF DEATH November 2nd 1983
Place of death New York City