Otto Warburg (biochemist)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Otto Warburg in October 1931

Otto Heinrich Warburg (born October 8, 1883 in Freiburg im Breisgau ; † August 1, 1970 in West Berlin ) was a German biochemist , doctor and physiologist . In 1931 he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for “the discovery of the nature and function of the respiratory ferment ” .

Life

Otto Warburg, born the son of the physicist Emil Warburg , graduated from high school in 1901 at the humanistic Friedrichswerder high school in Berlin . He then studied natural sciences with a focus on chemistry at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg , from 1903 he continued his chemistry studies at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin (today's Humboldt University ). There he passed the association examination with Siegmund Gabriel on December 14, 1903, the first academic examination in chemistry. From 1905 onwards he studied medicine in Berlin, Munich and Heidelberg . 1906 doctorate he in Berlin with Emil Fischer Dr. phil., in 1911 in Heidelberg for Dr. med. and there became an assistant at the medical clinic under Ludolf von Krehl . A year later, Warburg's habilitation in physiology took place in Heidelberg.

Bust of Warburg on the Biomedical Campus Berlin-Buch

Between 1908 and 1914 he worked as part of research stays at the Zoological Station in Naples . In 1914 Otto Heinrich Warburg was appointed a member of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society . From 1914 to 1918 he took part in the hostilities of the First World War. After the end of the war he worked at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute until 1930. From 1921 to 1923 he also held an extraordinary professorship for physiology at the Medical Faculty of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin .

Otto Heinrich Warburg was the founder (and until 1967 director, from 1953 Max Planck Institute for Cell Physiology ) of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cell Physiology in Berlin-Dahlem, established in 1930 .

When the pressure of the Nazis on him became noticeable in 1939, Warburg tried to be classified as a " mixed breed 1st degree". In fact, he managed to stay in his position until the end of the war, ostensibly through relationships with high-ranking people. In 1941 he was deposed as director of the institute, but continued to work and was restituted in 1942 (allegedly through the mediation of the chemist Walter Julius Viktor Schoeller ). The institute was classified as a "recognized military enterprise ". From 1943 to 1945 it was relocated to the Seehaus of Liebenberg Castle in the Templin district due to the war. After the Second World War, the institute was part of the German Research University in Berlin until it was incorporated into the Max Planck Society .

Warburg's grave

In the years between 1924 and 1949 he also made several teaching and research stays in the USA .

Among other things, he made his scientific contributions on the mitochondrial respiratory chain , photosynthesis in plants and the metabolism of tumors . He developed the composite enzymatic test . His discovery that a large number of malignant tumors have an increased sugar metabolism formed the basis for the development of a diagnostic imaging method , positron emission tomography , in the 1970s .

For the quantitative measurement of gas turnover in metabolic processes, he developed a new device, the Warburg apparatus . With this device the developing gases are measured manometrically . In 1931 Warburg received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for “discovering the nature and function of the respiratory ferment ” . He has also been awarded numerous other prizes, medals, orders, honorary memberships and honorary doctorates. After the Second World War, Warburg became a member of the German Academy of Sciences and professor at the newly founded Max Planck Institute for Cell Physiology in 1946. In 1956 he was appointed a member of the Leopoldina . In 1957 his article about Paul Ehrlich appeared . In 1962 he was awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize . In 1963 he was awarded the Harnack Medal of the Max Planck Society, which is awarded for services to society.

Warburg remained unmarried, he turned down various marriage offers from women. For more than 50 years (after his return from the First World War) Warburg lived with Jacob Heiss in his villa in Berlin-Dahlem. Jakob Heiss was officially his personal secretary. Until Warburg's death, he took care of all the activities of a private secretary, organized the extensive household, greeted the guests and accompanied Warburg on his travels. An anonymous complaint under Section 175 of the Criminal Code in 1943 had no major consequences.

Warburg hypothesis

Memorial plaque on the house at Boltzmannstrasse 14, Berlin-Zehlendorf

Warburg is still best known in cancer research today for the so-called Warburg hypothesis . He had found that tumors were characterized by an unusual concentration of lactate , the product of anaerobic glycolysis , even though there was enough oxygen to burn with the help of the mitochondria . From this he derived the hypothesis in 1930 that a disruption or interruption of the function of the mitochondria in cancer cells was the main reason for the growth of cancer. This assumption is a classic of basic medical research , but has always been controversial and is now considered outdated. Ernst van Aaken , a Warburg student, showed statistically that athletes who complete aerobic endurance training are significantly less likely to develop cancer than normal persons (he used the population of Waldniel as a family doctor ) and also as those who did interval training in Freiburg complete what is associated with an increase in the concentration of lactate in the blood. He believed this to be evidence of the Warburg hypothesis.

souvenir

Special postage stamp designed by Elisabeth von Janota-Bzowski , 1983

In memory of Otto Heinrich Warburg, the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM) annually awards the Otto Warburg Medal. The Otto Warburg Medal is the GBM's highest scientific award and is considered one of the most important awards in the field of biochemistry in Germany. Seven of the winners also received the Nobel Prize.

  • Otto Warburg Chemistry Foundation

The Otto Warburg Chemistry Foundation was established at the University of Bayreuth in memory of Nobel Prize winners . It promotes research and teaching in the field of chemistry at the University of Bayreuth and annually awards the Otto Warburg Lecture, which is provided with prize money.

Warburg's grave in Dahlem cemetery in field 4 is listed as an honorary grave for the State of Berlin.

The Deutsche Bundespost issued a special stamp on August 11, 1983 on the occasion of Otto Warburg's 100th birthday .

It is not uncommon for Otto (Heinrich) Warburg to be confused with the less well-known agrarian botanist and Zionist Otto Warburg of the same name , for example in library catalogs. The two Warburgs were distantly related. Occasionally they received each other's mail by mistake, as both were working academically in Berlin at the same time.

literature

  • Josef Hausen: OHW: An "artist" of cell physiology. In: Hans Schwerte and Wilhelm Spengler (eds.): Researchers and scientists in Europe today. Volume 2: Physicians, biologists, anthropologists. Series: Gestalter Our Time Volume 4. Stalling, Oldenburg 1955, pp. 127-134. (The editors were SS cadres.)
  • Hans Krebs : Otto Warburg. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-8047-0569-3
  • Ekkehard Höxtermann and Ulrich Sucker: Otto Warburg . BSB BG Teubner, Leipzig 1989, ISBN 3-322-00690-5
  • Petra Werner : Otto Warburg. From cell physiology to cancer research. Biography. Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-355-00789-7
  • Nobel Prize Winner for Physiology or Medicine at the University of Berlin. In: Charité-Annalen. Volume 2, 1982, pp. 290–309, illustrated (portrait photos) [Emil von Behring (p. 291 f.); Robert Koch (p. 293 f.); Paul Ehrlich (p. 295 f.); Albrecht von Kossel (p. 297 f.); Otto Warburg (p. 299 f.); Hans Spemann (p. 301 f.); Werner Forßmann (p. 303 f.); Emil Fischer (p. 305 f.); Eduard Bucher (p. 306 f.); Adolf Butenandt (p. 308 f.)]
  • Ekkehard Höxtermann: Otto Heinrich Warburg (1883–1970) - an "architect" of the natural sciences. Humboldt University, Berlin 1984. (Contributions to the history of the Humboldt University of Berlin, Volume 9)
  • Hans H. Lembke: The black sheep at the Gradenwitz and Kuczynski. Two Berlin families in the 19th and 20th centuries. Trafo Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89626-728-3
  • Christine Kirchhoff: Genius and Error. In: MaxPlanckForschung 3/2008, pp. 58–59 (section: flashback) ( online, PDF )
  • Manfred Stürzbecher : Warburg, Otto Heinrich. 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 , p. 1465 f.

Web links

Commons : Otto Heinrich Warburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

annotation

  1. ↑ In his Heidelberg years, Warburg took part with Otto Fritz Meyerhof and Karl Jaspers, among other things, in a working group to discuss (possibly also testing) psychoanalysis, which was headed by Meyerhof's friend Arthur Kronfeld in 1910/11 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reports of the Association of Laboratory Board Members, page 06-015: Warburg Otto (3580). Retrieved August 28, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Ulrike Kohl: The presidents of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in National Socialism: Max Planck, Carl Bosch and Albert Vögler between science and power . Franz Steiner Verlag, 2002, ISBN 978-3-515-08049-1 , p. 167.
  3. ^ Ekkehard Höxtermann: Otto Warburg . Vieweg + Teubner Verlag, August 13, 2013, ISBN 978-3-663-12278-4 , p. 140.
  4. ↑ Frank Heynick: Jews and Medicine: An Epic Saga . KTAV Publishing House, Inc., January 1, 2002, ISBN 978-0-88125-773-1 , p. 411.
  5. ↑ Archive for the history of the Max Planck Society / inventory overview: I. Dept., Rep. 50 - Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cell Physiology .
  6. ^ Otto H. Warburg: Paul Ehrlich. In: Hermann Heimpel , Theodor Heuss , Benno Reifenberg (Eds.): The Great Germans. German Biography, Volume IV. Berlin 1957, pp. 186–192.
  7. ↑ Petra Werner: A genius is less likely to err… Otto Heinrich Warburg. A picture of life in documents. (with the assistance of Reinhard Renneberg), Berlin 1991, pp. 80, 82-84.
  8. ^ Petra Werner: Otto Warburg. From cell physiology to cancer research. Biography, Berlin 1988, pp. 162f.
  9. ^ Petra Werner: Otto Warburg. From cell physiology to cancer research. Biography, Berlin 1988, p. 163.
  10. ↑ Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller: Man for man. P. 721f.
  11. ^ Ernst van Aaken: Critique of the interval training Freiburg imprint from biochemistry & practice. Sports University Cologne, 1964.
  12. ↑ Honorary graves of the State of Berlin (as of August 2013) (PDF; 566 kB).
personal data
SURNAME Warburg, Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Warburg, Otto Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German biochemist, doctor and physiologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Freiburg in Breisgau
DATE OF DEATH August 1, 1970
Place of death Berlin