Friedrich Moritz Erich Harnack (,

Dorpat Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern Europe, Northern Europe, European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres ...

(now ) – 24 April 1915

Halle an der Saale Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anh ...

) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

pharmacologist Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

and

toxicologist Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating ex ...

. From 1869 he studied medicine at the

University of Dorpat The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1873 with the dissertation ''Zur Pathogenese und Therapie des Diabetes mellitus'' ("Pathogenesis and therapy regarding

diabetes mellitus Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

"). From 1873 he worked as an assistant at the pharmacological institute of the

University of Straßburg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the e ...

, and in 1877 obtained his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

. In 1880 he became an associate professor of pharmacology and

physiological chemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

, where in 1889 he attained a full professorship. In 1891 he founded an institute of pharmacology at the university. He is remembered for his pharmacological studies of

physostigmine Physostigmine (also known as eserine from ''éséré'', the West African name for the Calabar bean) is a highly toxic parasympathomimetic alkaloid, specifically, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor. It occurs naturally in the Calabar bean and ...

and

apomorphine Apomorphine, sold under the brand name Apokyn among others, is a type of aporphine having activity as a non- selective dopamine agonist which activates both D2-like and, to a much lesser extent, D1-like receptors. It also acts as an antagon ...

. He was the son of theologian

Theodosius Harnack Theodosius Andreas Harnack (russian: Феодосий Карлович Гарнак, translit=Feodosij Karlovič Garnak; , St. Petersburg – , Dorpat (now )) was a Baltic German theologian. A professor of Divinity, he started his career as a ...

and the brother of theologian

Adolf von Harnack Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited ...

, mathematician

Carl Gustav Axel Harnack Carl Gustav Axel Harnack (, Dorpat (now ) – 3 April 1888, Dresden) was a Baltic German mathematician who contributed to potential theory. Harnack's inequality applied to harmonic functions. He also worked on the real algebraic geometry of pla ...

and literary historian

Otto Harnack Rudolf Gottfried Otto Harnack (23 November 1857, in Erlangen – 22 March 1914, near Besigheim) was a German literary historian, best known for his writings on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He studied history and philology at the universities of ...

Selected works

* ''Die Bedeutung pharmakologischer Thatsachen für die Physiologie des Froschherzens'', 1881 – Pharmacological facts regarding physiology of the frog heart. * ''Lehrbuch der Arzneimittellehre und Arzneiverordnungslehre'', 1883 (based on ''Lehrbuch der Arzneimittellehre'' by

Rudolf Buchheim Rudolf Buchheim (1 March 1820 – 25 December 1879) was a German pharmacologist born in Bautzen (Budziszyn). In 1845 he earned his doctorate from the University of Leipzig and shortly after became an associate professor of pharmacology, dieteti ...

). * ''Die Hauptthatsachen der Chemie'', 1887 – The primary facts of chemistry. * ''Die Dosen unserer officinellen und neu eingeführten Arzneimittel'', 1890 – Dosages of official and newly introduced medicines. * ''Die Bibel und die alkoholischen Getränke'', 1894 – The Bible and alcoholic beverages. * ''Vergiftungen durch Metalle, Metalloide, Kohlenstoffverbindungen, Pflanzenstoffe'', 1901 – Poisoning by metals, metalloids,

carbon compounds Carbon compounds are defined as chemical substances containing carbon. More compounds of carbon exist than any other chemical element except for hydrogen. Organic carbon compounds are far more numerous than inorganic carbon compounds. In general ...

, plant substances. * ''Ueber die Vergiftung durch Speisekartoffeln'', 1904 – On the poisoning of potatoes. * ''Tierschutz und Vivisektion'', 1906 – Animal protection and vivisection. * ''Studien über Hautelektrizität und Hautmagnetismus des Menschen'', 1905. * ''Das Gift in der dramatischen Dichtung und in der antiken Literatur'', 1908 – Poison in dramatic poetry and ancient literature. * ''Pharmakologisches und Therapeutisches über die Maxquelle, die Arsenquelle des Bades Dürkheim'', 1912 – Pharmacological and therapeutic aspects of the Maxquelle, the

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...

source at

Bad Dürkheim Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration, and is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Bad Dürkheim lies at the edge of Palatinate Forest on the German Wine ...

. * ''Die gerichtliche Medizin'', 1914 – On

forensic medicine Forensic medicine is a broad term used to describe a group of medical specialties which deal with the examination and diagnosis of individuals who have been injured by or who have died because of external or unnatural causes such as poisoning, assa ...

. * ''Arbeiten über das Physostignum und Calabarin'' (with L. Witkowski) – Works on

and

calabarine ''Physostigma venenosum'', the Calabar bean or ordeal bean, is a leguminous plant, Endemic to tropical Africa, with a seed poisonous to humans. It derives the first part of its scientific name from a curious beak-like appendage at the end of the ...

. * ''The effects of lead on the animal organism'' (English translation, 1960).Most widely held works by Erich Harnack
WorldCat Identities

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harnack, Erich 1852 births 1915 deaths People from Tartu People from Kreis Dorpat German pharmacologists German toxicologists University of Tartu alumni Academic staff of the University of Halle