George Karreman (4 November 1920 – 27 February 1997) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

-born US physicist, mathematical biophysicist and mathematical/ theoretical biologist. He was the first president of the

Society for Mathematical Biology The Society for Mathematical Biology (SMB) is an international association co-founded in 1972 in the United States by George Karreman, Herbert Daniel Landahl and (initially chaired) by Anthony Bartholomay for the furtherance of joint scientific ac ...

(SMB).

Biography

Karreman's father was Chief Engineer for the Dutch Merchant Marine. George Karreman studied physics and mathematics at Leiden University. In August 1948 Karreman emigrated to Chicago, USA, where he contacted

Nicolas Rashevsky Nicolas Rashevsky (November 9, 1899 – January 16, 1972) was an American theoretical physicist who was one of the pioneers of mathematical biology, and is also considered the father of mathematical biophysics and theoretical biology. Rober ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. He became one of Rashevsky' s best PhD students in Mathematical Biophysics. In 1950 Karreman underwent experimental heart surgery for an aortic coarctation at the University of Chicago. He married Anneke Halbertsma in 1953, and they moved to

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Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, where their daughter, Grace, was born in 1954. In succession, his first son, Frank Karreman was born in 1958, and then in 1962 his second son, Hubert-Jan. Later, his three children received advanced degrees from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in several fields. Karreman was an exceptionally devoted educator, who was always supportive of his research associates, family, and friends; he was a generous man, obviously having not forgotten Rashevsky's help in his early life at the University of Chicago. He had a wide range of interests in his readings, a keen interest in the fine arts—such as paintings, was an advanced chess player, and a most devoted husband and father. Between 1987 and 1997, he frequently travelled to the Pacific Northwest where his son and daughter had their homes and children.

Academic career

Karreman earned his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics in 1939. He completed in 1941 his

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in Theoretical Physics under the supervision of

Hendrik Anthony Kramers Hendrik Anthony "Hans" Kramers (17 December 1894 – 24 April 1952) was a Dutch physicist who worked with Niels Bohr to understand how electromagnetic waves interact with matter and made important contributions to quantum mechanics and statistical ...

at Leiden University. For the remainder of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he survived by tutoring students in physics and mathematics. He was awarded a University of Chicago Fellowship that supported him to complete a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in Mathematical Biology in 1951 under the supervision of the founder of Mathematical Biophysics and Mathematical Biology, Nicolas Rashevsky. Karreman was then selected as a consultant to

Albert Szent-Györgyi Albert Imre Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt ( hu, nagyrápolti Szent-Györgyi Albert Imre; September 16, 1893 – October 22, 1986) was a Hungarian biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937. He is credited with fi ...

at the Institute for Muscle Research,

Marine Biological Laboratory The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...

Woods Hole Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...

. To follow his interest in mathematics applied to biology,

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

, and medicine he went to Philadelphia in 1957, to take up the position of Senior Medical Research Scientist at the Eastern Research Center. He was appointed associate professor of physiology at the School of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania, where he also worked at the Bockus Research Institute at the Graduate Hospital. He was promoted to Full Professor of Physiology at the same university in 1972, where he held this position until 1983, when he became the first Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Biology. His main research interests were many, but all were in related fields that included: mathematical biology and mathematical biophysics, membrane biophysics, photosynthetic mechanisms, quantum biochemistry and quantum biophysics, biological energy transfer, quantum biology,George Karreman, R.H. Steele, and Albert Szent-Gyorgyi. "On resonance transfer of excitation energy between aromatic aminoacids in proteins.", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (1958) 44: 140-143 physiological irritability, mathematical and systems analysis of cardiovascular and other biosystems, cooperativity, threshold phenomena in biomembranes, adsorption mechanisms at membrane surfaces and ion binding to biomembranes. After Rashevsky's passing away in 1972, Karreman was a co-founder of the

(SMB) in 1974—together with H. Landahl and A. Bartholomay, and in 1975 he became its first president. Karreman was also a member of several prestigious scientific societies, including the

American Physiological Society The American Physiological Society is a non-profit professional society for physiologists. It has nearly 10,000 members, most of whom hold doctoral degrees in medicine, physiology or other health professions. Its mission is to support research an ...

, the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wi ...

, the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memori ...

, the Society for Supramolecular Biology,

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

, the Physiological Society of Philadelphia, and the Society for Vascular System Dynamics.

Honours

* 1974 – First President of the

Selected publications

* George Karreman, R.H. Steele, and Albert Szent-Gyorgyi. "On resonance transfer of excitation energy between aromatic aminoacids in proteins.", ''Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci''. (1958) 44: 140-143. * George Karreman. "Contributions to quantum biology. I. Mobile electronic characteristics of riboflavin radicals.", ''Bulletin of Mathematical Biology'', Volume 23, Number 1/March, (1961) 55-68
Abstract
* George Karreman. "Studies in quantum biology. II. The mobile electron characteristics of tryptophan+ in relation to those of FMN−, FMNH and FMNH 2+". ''Bulletin of Mathematical Biology'', Volume 23, Number 2/June, (1961) 135-140,
Abstract
* George Karreman. "Cooperative specific adsorption of ions at charged sites in an electric field." ''Bulletin of Mathematical Biology'', Volume 27, Supplement 1 / January, 1965, 91-104., . * George Karreman. "Electronic Aspects of Quantum Biology." ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'', Volume 96, ''Issue on Mathematical Theories of Biological Phenomena'', Pages 1029 - 1055, published on line on 15 Dec 2006, * George Karreman. "Mathematical Biology of Physiological Excitation", ''Synthese'' 9, no. ''3-5'' (1953): 248. * George Karreman. "Towards a physical understanding of physiological excitation as a cooperative specific adsorption phenomenon.", ''Bulletin of Mathematical Biology'', Volume 35, Numbers 1-2 / February, 1973, 149-171, . * George Karreman, "Recent mathematical-biological studies of communication.", ''Synthese'' 9, no. ''3-5'' (1953): 255.

References

External links