Otto Weiß (physiologist)

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Otto Weiss

Otto Weiß (born July 22, 1871 in Vilsen near Bremen ; died January 25, 1943 there ) worked as a German doctor at the Physiological Institute of the Albertus University in Königsberg .

Life

Otto Weiß was the son of the medical adviser August Weiß. After completing school in Rinteln / Lower Saxony and studying medicine in Göttingen , he spent 40 years of professional activity in Königsberg from 1897 . During his studies in Göttingen he became a member of the Georgia Augusta student choir in the special houses association in 1890/91 . In Königsberg he completed his habilitation with Ludimar Hermann (1838-1914) at the Physiological Institute of the Albertus University in Königsberg (Albertina) and in 1907 became associate professor. From 1918 to 1936 he was full professor of physiology there. In 1925 he was accepted into the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .

In 1930 he was wrongly accepted by the National Socialists in the "Königsberg credit reporting agency" because the National Socialists believed that he was of Jewish descent.

For many years until his departure from Königsberg in 1936, Weiß was president of the “Physical-Economic Society” in Königsberg. After his retirement he moved to Berlin. The war conditions made it advisable for him to return to his place of birth early in Vilsen. He died in 1943 of a liver disease that had occurred two years earlier.

Scientific work

His extensive work (over 100 publications) at the renowned Physiological Institute of the Albertina is listed in detail in the work of his student Hans Lullies mentioned. Research was carried out in particular in the area of ​​nerves, muscle physiology, the physiology of the eye and acoustics. Particularly noteworthy are his studies on white peregrine falcons from Horsten in the Kaporn Heath near Königsberg, which he raised at the institute. "The optical constants of the raptor's eye were measured ophthalmometrically and the dimensions of the retinal elements were examined in order to precisely answer the question of the supposedly particularly great visual acuity of these animals" (Item 1, p. 466).

His experimental work on intraocular pressure and thus on glaucoma attracted particular attention. His views can be found in Nagelschen Handbuch 1904 and a recording from the institute at work on the Hermann Helmholtz pendulum has survived.

literature

  • Weiß, O .: Investigations into the excitability of a nerve at different points in its course. Pflügers Arch. 72 (1898), p. 15
  • Weiß, O .: Apparatus for registering human heart sounds. German Med. Wschr. Vol. II, 1907
  • Weiß, O .: skull shape and mind. Lecture to the Society of Friends of Kant. Koenigsberger Hartungsche Zeitung No. 257, 1921

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Grübel, Special Houses Association of German Student Choral Societies (SV): Cartel address book. As of March 1, 1914. Munich 1914, p. 27.
  2. ↑ Hans Lullies: Otto Weiss (1871-1943). Reprint from "Results of Physiology, Biological Chemistry and Experimental Pharmacology, Vol. 45 (1944), pp. 463-481
  3. ^ Neumann-Redlin von Meding: E ​​.: The Königsberg "German credit agency" 1930 of the National Socialists. Königsberger Bürgerbrief No. 83 (2014), pp. 40–43 (correction of errors including Birch-Hirschfeld, Walter Simon (1875 - around 1942), Raphael Sokolowsky (1874–1944): same author and title, issue No. 84 (2014) , Pp. 39–40)
  4. ↑ White, O.:Die protective apparatus of the eye. In: Nagels Handbuch der Physiologie, Vol. 3, 1904, p. 469
  5. ↑ Weiß, O .: The nutrition and circulation of the eye. In: Nagels Handbuch der Physiologie, Vol. 3, 1904, p. 438
personal data
SURNAME White, Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weiss, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Vilsen
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1943
Place of death Vilsen