Otto Fritz Meyerhof

Otto Fritz Meyerhof
Born	(1884-04-12)12 April 1884 Hanover, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Nationality	German
Fields	Physics and Biochemistry
Alma mater	University of Strasbourg University of Heidelberg
Known for	Relationship between the consumption of oxygen and the metabolism of lactic acid in the muscle
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1922 Fellow of the Royal Society

Otto Fritz Meyerhof ForMemRS (April 12, 1884 – October 6, 1951) was a German physician and biochemist.

Biography

Meyerhof was born in Hildesheim, the son of wealthy Jewish parents. Because Hildesheim is a smaller city, about half an hour south of Hannover, a number of biographies mistakenly list his birthplace as Hannover. He spent most of his childhood in Berlin, where he started his study of medicine. He continued these studies in Strasbourg and Heidelberg, from which he graduated in 1909, with a work titled "Contributions to the Psychological Theory of Mental Illness". In Heidelberg, he met Hedwig Schallenberg, who later became his wife. They had a daughter, Bettina Meyerhof and two sons, Gottfried (who referred to himself as Geoffrey) and Walter.

In 1912, he moved to the University of Kiel, where he became professor in 1918. In 1922, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine, with Archibald Vivian Hill, for his work on muscle metabolism, including glycolysis. In 1929 he became one of the directors of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, a position he held until 1938. Fleeing the Nazi regime, he moved to Paris in 1938. He then moved to the United States in 1940, where he became a guest professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Meyerhof died in Philadelphia at the age of 67.

See also

• List of Jewish Nobel laureates

External links

• Meyerhof Curriculum Vitae and Obituary
• National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir