Ludwig Haberlandt
Ludwig Haberlandt (born February 1, 1885 in Graz , † July 22, 1932 in Innsbruck ) was an Austrian physiologist. He is considered a pioneer of hormonal contraception , who led the preparatory work for the development of the birth control pill .
Live and act
Haberlandt studied medicine at the University of Graz , where he embarked on an academic career as a physiologist after completing his doctorate in 1909. He worked as an assistant at the Physiological Institutes in Graz, Berlin and Innsbruck , where he completed his habilitation in 1913. In Innsbruck he became a member of the striking student union Akademischer Gesangsverein . His field of work primarily comprised cardiac physiology and internal secretion . In 1926 he succeeded in proving a "heart hormone" as the basis for cardiac function. Further research in 1929 led him to an excitation substance in the brain and spinal cord that was able to activate nervous performance.
As a professor of physiology in Innsbruck, Haberlandt discovered in animal experiments with rats in 1919 that pregnancy blocks the maturation of further egg cells . He came up with the idea of making women temporarily sterile by giving them pregnancy hormones.
In 1921 he was already ovaries - transplantation experiments bring about a hormonal sterilization of female animal body. The Viennese gynecologist Otfried Otto Fellner confirmed Haberlandt's results. The two tried to further refine their discoveries for a hormonal contraceptive method.
After he presented the importance of the discovery in the clinical field in lectures at physiological conferences from 1923 after further scientific successes, he was massively criticized by colleagues. He was accused of crimes against unborn life, and his idea got caught in the crossfire of moral, ethical, ecclesiastical and political ideas. Haberlandt was also attacked in public reporting. Negotiations with the German pharmaceutical industry also turned out to be difficult, so Haberlandt turned to Hungary . In 1930, despite resistance in Budapest, he developed the preparation "Infecundin" with the G. Richter factory . However, the pharmaceutical prerequisites and technical aids were still missing. But the political environment of the 1930s also prevented the further development and continuation of his professional career.
Due to Haberlandt's suicide at the age of 47 and the chaos of war in Europe, the considerations about the implementation of hormonal contraception were forgotten for many years until the chemist Carl Djerassi emigrated from Vienna to the USA in 1939 together with the pharmacologists Gregory Pincus and John Rock developed a contraceptive from a derivative of the female sex hormone progesterone and applied for a patent in 1961. Djerassi describes Haberlandt as the "father of the birth control pill".
In 1925 Haberlandt was elected a member of the Leopoldina .
Fonts
- Cardiac fibrillation, its origin and relationship to the heart nerves Jena 1914
- On metabolism and fatigue of the peripheral nerves Jena 1916
- The physiology of the atrioventricular connection of the cold-blooded heart Leipzig 1917
- About hormonal sterilization of the female carcass: A contribution to the theory of the internal secretion of the ovary and the placenta Berlin; Vienna 1926
- Stimulation and conduction in the vertebrate heart, Munich 1926
- The hormone of the heart movement Berlin; Vienna 1927
- The heart hormone Jena 1930
- The hormonal sterilization of the female organism Jena 1931
literature
- Franz Th. Bridge: Haberlandt, Ludwig. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 395 ( digitized version ).
- Corinna Zangerl: When science sets life limits: the notes of the Innsbruck physiologist Ludwig Haberlandt (1885 - 1932) . Innsbruck: Wagner, 2014. (Experiencing - Remembering - Preserving; Vol. 3), ISBN 978-3-7030-0830-6 .
- Edda Haberlandt: Ludwig Haberlandt. A pioneer in hormonal contraception , in: Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift , 2008, pp. 746–749, doi: 10.1007 / s00508-009-1280-x , with Engl. and German summary.
Individual evidence
- ^ Albin Kulhanek: Chronicle of the AGV Innsbruck 1863-1905 . Innsbruck 2003, p. 75 .
Web links
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Haberlandt, Ludwig |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian physiologist |
DATE OF BIRTH | February 1, 1885 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Graz |
DATE OF DEATH | July 22, 1932 |
Place of death | innsbruck |