Herbert Spencer Gasser

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Herbert Spencer Gasser, 1944 Nobel Prize Laureate in Medicine

Herbert Spencer Gasser (born on 5. July 1888 in Platteville (Wisconsin) ; died on 11. May 1963 in New York ) was an American neuro physiologist . For the discovery of the highly differentiated functions of the individual nerve fibers, he and Joseph Erlanger received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1944 .

Life

Herbert Spencer Gasser was born on July 5, 1888 in Platteville, Wisconsin, the son of the general practitioner Herman Gasser, originally from Dornbirn , and his wife Jane Elisabeth, née Griswold. He had a younger brother and a younger sister.

Gasser finished his education at the state school in Platteville in 1906 and then went to the University of Wisconsin to study medicine and pharmacology at the request of his father . His teacher of physiology was Joseph Erlanger, with whom he continued to work intensively after his studies. He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1910 and his Master of Arts in 1911 . Gasser stayed in Wisconsin for another year as an assistant for biochemistry and finished his studies there, doing research together with Arthur S. Loevenhart on the physiology of the brain in the case of oxygen deficiency and with Walter Joseph Meek on the reactions of the heart under stress.

He then went to the Johns Hopkins Medical School for his clinical studies, where he received his doctorate in medicine in 1915 . After teaching pharmacology for a year in Wisconsin, he went to Washington University in St. Louis as a physiologist , where he became associate professor of pharmacology in 1920 and full professor in 1921. He held this chair until he moved to Cornell University in 1931.

From 1923 to 1925 he received a scholarship to study in Europe, where he worked with Archibald Vivian Hill , Walther Straub , Louis Lapicque and Henry Hallett Dale , among others . In 1931 Gasser became professor of physiology and head of the medical department at Cornell Medical School in New York City . From 1935 to 1953 he was director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research , where he stayed after his retirement .

Herbert Spencer Gasser was unmarried and died on May 11, 1963.

plant

During his tenure at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, Gasser dealt briefly with the subject of blood clotting . During World War I , he worked as a chemical warfare pharmacologist for the Chemical Warfare Service at the American University in Washington, DC During World War II , he also worked on chemical weapons, this time mustard gas, and muscle contraction and sensitivity to nicotine and acetylcholine .

His main occupation was the electrophysiology of nerve fibers , which he examined together with Joseph Erlanger. Improved by the introduction of improved technology in the physiology, especially the development and use oscilloscopes based on the CRT (cathode ray), they could achieve better results than with the hitherto conventional string galvanometer by Willem Einthoven was possible. Gasser and Erlanger developed precise measurement techniques for the analysis of the very weak electrical impulses of the nerve cells by using the possibilities of registering the nerve impulses with practically no delay. As early as 1922, the two scientists were able to use the oscilloscope for the first precise recording of nerve impulses and for determining the nerve conduction velocity . They attributed the differences in the results to the different conductivities to different nerve types.

In 1924 Gasser and Erlanger were able to prove that specific sensations such as pain , cold and heat are only transmitted by specific nerve cells. This work enabled a better understanding of the impulse conduction of the nerves, for example in pain perception and reflexes. They also demonstrated that nerves consist of different types of fibers with different speeds at which stimuli are transmitted, and that thicker nerve fibers conduct nerve impulses faster than thinner ones. On the basis of their measurements, they developed a classification of nerves in three main groups according to their conduction velocity, taking into account the different and fluctuating excitability and other factors.

The system developed by Erlanger and Gasser and still in use today to classify the conduction velocity according to nerve conduction velocity and diameter relates to motor (efferent) and sensory (afferent) nerve cells. Another system was developed by David PC Lloyd and Carlton C. Hunt , which relates to sensory nerve cells and is used in parallel. In both systems, the values ​​were determined in animal experiments on domestic cats ; in humans, the line speeds are about 25% lower.

Classification of the line speed according to Erlanger / Gasser
Fiber type / class (according to Erlanger / Gasser) Line speed diameter efferent to: afferent of / (classification according to Lloyd / Hunt ):
Aα 60-120 m / s 10-20 µm Skeletal muscle ( extrafusal ) Skeletal muscle: muscle spindle (Ia), Golgi tendon organ (Ib)
Aβ 40-90 m / s 7-15 µm Skin receptors (touch, pressure) (II)
Aγ 20-50 m / s 4-8 µm Skeletal muscle ( intrafusal )
Aδ 10-30 m / s 2-5 µm Skin receptors (temperature, rapid pain) (III)
B. 5-20 m / s 1-3 µm preganglionic visceroefferents
C (without myelin sheath) 0.5-2 m / s 0.5-1.5 µm postganglionic viscera efferents slow pain, thermoreceptors (IV)

Honors

For the discovery of the highly differentiated functions of the individual nerve fibers, he and his former teacher Joseph Erlanger received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1944 .

Gasser received honorary doctorates for his work from the Universities of Pennsylvania, Rochester, Wisconsin, Columbia, Oxford, Harvard, Paris, Brussels, Louvain, Washington (St. Louis) and the Johns Hopkins Medical School. He was also a member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), the American Philosophical Society (1937), the Association of American Physicians and the American Physiological Society, and was an honorary member of the Physiological Society (Great Britain), the Asociación Médica Argentina. and the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

In 1948 Gasser was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1954 he received the George M. Kober Medal .

Publications

In 1936 Gasser was appointed editor of The Journal of Experimental Medicine , and in 1937 he co-published the book Electrical Signs of Nervous Activity . There were also numerous scientific publications in the field of physiology.

literature

Web links

Commons : Herbert Gasser  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Florida Atlantic University Libraries: American Jewish Recipients of the Nobel Prize. ( Memento of the original from June 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fau.edu archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Short biography, accessed August 17, 2014.
  2. ↑ Meinrad Pichler: America's Dornbirn ( Vorarlberger Nachrichten, accessed on May 18, 2015 )
  3. ↑ Arthur S. Loevenhart, Herbert Spencer Gasser: The mechanism of stimulation the medullary centers by decreased oxidation. The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeuthics 5, 1914; Pp. 239-273. ( Abstract )
  4. ^ Walter Joseph Meek, Herbert Spencer Gasser: a study of the mechanism by which muscular exercise produces acceleration of the heart. American Journal of Physiology 34, 1914; Pp. 48-71.
  5. ↑ Manfred Wenzel: Gasser, Herbert Spencer. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , pp. 459 f .; here: p. 459.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Gasser, Herbert Spencer In: Bernhard Kupfer: Lexicon of Nobel Prize Winners. Patmos-Verlag, Düsseldorf 2001; P. 223. ISBN 3-491-72451-1 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g Biography of Herbert Spencer Gasser on the pages of the Nobel Foundation for the award ceremony in 1956 (English). Retrieved from nobelprize.org on August 17, 2014; published in: Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1942-1962, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam 1964.
  8. ↑ Manfred Wenzel (2005), p. 459.
  9. ↑ a b Heinz Penzlin : The comparative animal physiology. In: Ilse Jahn : History of Biology. Theories, methods, institutions, short biographies . Nikol VG Spectrum, Hamburg 2004; P. 478. ISBN 3-937872-01-9 .
  10. ^ Herbert Spencer Gasser, Joseph Erlanger: A study on the action currents of nerve with the cathode ray oscillograph. American Journal of Physiology 62, 1922; Pp. 496-524.
  11. ↑ a b Rainer Klinke : Components of the nervous system. In: Rainer Klinke, Stefan Silbernagl (Ed.): Textbook of Physiology. 2nd edition, Georg Thieme Verlag 1996; P. 541. ISBN 3-13-796002-9 .
  12. ↑ Gerd Karl Heinz: Relativity of electrical impulse propagation - key to the informatics of biological systems. ( Memento of the original from May 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 39th International Scientific Colloquium at TU Ilmenau 27. – 30. September 1994 Vol. 2, pp. 238-245.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gfai.de
  13. ^ Member History: Herbert Spencer Gasser. American Philosophical Society, accessed August 17, 2018 .
  14. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed December 7, 2019 .
  15. ^ Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1900-1949 ( PDF ). Retrieved October 11, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Gasser, Herbert Spencer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American neurophysiologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Platteville
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 1963
Place of death New York City