Ernst Florey

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Ernst Florey (born April 3, 1927 in Salzburg , † September 26, 1997 in Konstanz ) was an Austrian zoologist, neurobiologist and science historian.

life and work

Florey was drafted into the Wehrmacht at the end of the Second World War and was wounded (hand and ear, which prevented an intended musical career). He studied philosophy, botany and zoology in Salzburg, Vienna and Graz, with a doctorate in neuropharmacology in 1950.

As a post-doctoral student , he was on a Fulbright scholarship with Cornelis AG Wiersma at the California Institute of Technology , where he turned to neurobiological research on crayfish on laboratory animals (especially the stretch receptor). He then carried out research at the University of Göttingen, the University of Würzburg and the University of Montreal , before becoming professor of zoology at the University of Washington in 1956 , where he headed the department of general and comparative physiology.

From 1968 he was professor of neurobiology at the then newly founded University of Konstanz . There he renewed the curriculum and introduced the compulsory laboratory change for doctoral students. During the summer, he mostly did research at marine research institutes around the world (especially the one in Naples). In 1992 he retired. He died of pancreatic cancer.

In 1953/1954, while studying crayfish, Florey discovered the neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which, in contrast to the previously known transmitters, had an inhibitory effect, which is why the discovery was met with great skepticism at the time. Florey first called it Factor I and characterized it as GABA in 1957. Later it was recognized that the inhibition of nerve cells is just as important as their excitation. He co-founded the concept of the neuromodulator (1967).

He also dealt with philosophical questions (body-soul problem) and the history of science in neurobiology (he was President of the German Society for the History and Theory of Biology). His textbook on comparative physiology has long been a standard work in the USA and Germany. He wrote a biography of Franz Anton Mesmer .

From 1971 to 1972 he was President of the German Zoological Society . With Graham Hoyle he founded the annual West Coast Conference on Excitable Systems in the 1960s and with Otto Creutzfeldt he founded the Göttingen Neurobiologist Conference in 1973. Since 1982 he has organized the meeting of the Nobel Prize winners in Lindau .

Fonts

  • An introduction to General and Comparative Animal Physiology. Saunder, 1966.
    • German translation: Textbook of Animal Physiology An introduction to the general and comparative physiology of animals. Thieme, 1970, 1994.
  • with Olaf Breidbach (editor): The brain - organ of the soul? On the history of ideas in neurobiology. Akademie Verlag, 1993.
  • Ars Magnetica, Franz Anton Mesmer, 1734 - 1815, magician from Lake Constance. Universitätsverlag Konstanz 1995. ISBN 3-87940-483-6

literature

  • Hans-Jörg Rheinberger : Ernst Florey, 1927–1997- (obituary). In: Reports on the History of Science , Volume 21, 1998, p. 46.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Florey, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian neurobiologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 3, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Salzburg
DATE OF DEATH September 26, 1997
Place of death Constancy