Otto Lous Mohr

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Otto Lous Mohr, ca.1946.

Otto Lous Mohr (born March 8, 1886 in Mandal , Vest-Agder , Sørlandet , † June 23, 1967 in Fredrikstad , Østfold , Norway ) was a Norwegian geneticist and research politician . He introduced modern genetics research in Norway in 1915 and was the country's leading researcher in both basic research and applied genetics until his arrest by the National Socialists in September 1941 during the German occupation . After his liberation from the Grini concentration camp , as rector of the University of Oslo from 1946 he was co-initiator of the Norwegian Scientific Research Council (NAVF) to finance basic research.

Life

Mohr grew up with his parents, pastors Olaf Eugen Mohr (1856-1933) and Jeanette Lous (1860-1942), as well as his brother Hugo Lous Mohr (1889-1970), in Mandal. After studying medicine in Stavanger, he moved to Brussels in 1912 to study cell science and embryology with Jean Brachet . The cytological examinations of chromosomes became the focus of Mohr's early research. On June 9, 1914, Mohr married the doctor Tove Kathrine Møller (1891–1981) in Fredrikstad.

Scientific work

After completing his dissertation in Drøbak , he moved to Columbia University in New York City , where he further deepened his genetic research by crossing experiments with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster at the institute of Thomas Hunt Morgan . Back in Norway, Mohr became a professor at the anatomical institute of the Royal Friedrichs University Christiania in 1918 and published his research results on chromosome changes in Drosophila melanogaster. In addition to further work on fruit flies for mutation , he also investigated the hereditary properties of humans and farm animals in collaboration with physicians, zoologists and agricultural scientists in the 1920s.

Victim of the National Socialist Terror

As he participated in the public discussion on social issues with his writings, Mohr was an opponent of Jon Alfred Hansen Mjøen and an opponent of ideologies such as anti-Semitism and eugenics during the German occupation of Norway in the Grini concentration camp, and fell victim to the Nazi terror . He was arrested on September 11, 1941 together with Didrik Arup Seip , Anton Wilhelm Brøgger and Johan Schreiner . After six months of Grini, he was placed under house arrest in Fredrikstad.

Rector of the University of Oslo

After the liberation from the Germans, Mohr was elected rector of the University of Oslo in autumn 1945. From 1946 to 1951, in this office he was largely responsible for the further development of the Norwegian research landscape.

Honors

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Lous Mohr . In: Store norske leksikon . March 4, 2020 ( snl.no [accessed April 30, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Otto L. Mohr: Character Changes Caused by Mutation of an Entire Region of a Chromosome in Drosophila . In: Genetics . tape 4 , no. 3 , May 1919, ISSN  0016-6731 , p. 275-282 , PMID 17245926 , PMC 1200460 (free full text) - (PMC = 1200460 [accessed April 30, 2020]).
  3. ^ Otto L. Mohr: A Somatic Mutation in the Singed Locus of the X-Chromosome in Drosophila Melanogaster . In: Hereditas . tape 4 , no. 1-2 , 1923, ISSN  1601-5223 , pp. 142–160 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1601-5223.1923.tb02953.x ( wiley.com [accessed April 30, 2020]).
  4. ↑ Menneskeavlen under culture: bidrag til spørsmaalet om barnetallets begrænsninger - Nasjonalbiblioteket. Accessed April 30, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Jon Royne Kyllingstad: Measuring the Master Race: Physical Anthropology in Norway, 1890-1945 . Open Book Publishers, 2014, ISBN 978-1-909254-54-1 .
  6. ↑ Fridtjof Nansens belønning for foreign forskning. In: http://www.nansenfondet.no . Accessed April 30, 2020 .
  7. ^ Gunnerus medaljen | DKNVS. Accessed April 30, 2020 (nb-NO).
personal data
SURNAME Mohr, Otto Lous
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian genetics and research politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Mandal , Vest-Agder , Sørlandet
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 1967
Place of death Fredrikstad , Østfold , Norway