Gerhard Schmidt (26 December 1901 – 30 April 1981) was a German-born physician and

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

who was regarded as "a world authority on nucleic acids and phospholipids."

Career

Life in Germany

He was born in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, where his father Julius Schmidt was a professor of chemistry at the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart (german: Universität Stuttgart) is a leading research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany wit ...

. He studied medicine at the University of Tübingen and the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

, and earned a doctorate at the Goethe University under the supervision of the university's then-rector Gustav Embden in 1926. He then worked as a research assistant and as a ''

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

'' at the Goethe University's department of biochemistry and at the

Senckenberg Institute of Pathology The Senckenberg Institute of Pathology (german: Dr. Senckenbergisches Institut für Pathologie or ''Senckenbergisches Pathologisches Institut''), formerly known as the Institute of Anatomical Pathology of the Senckenberg Foundation, is a pathologi ...

, where he was a collaborator and protégé of the institute's director and rector of the Goethe University

Bernhard Fischer-Wasels Bernhard Fischer-Wasels (25 January 1877, in Atsch near Stolberg (Rhineland) – 23 December 1941, in Frankfurt), known as Bernhard Fischer until 1926, was a German physician and anatomical pathologist, who served as Director of the Senckenberg In ...

. Following the Nazi takeover of Germany, he immediately faced persecution due to his Jewish background.

Herman Kalckar Herman Moritz Kalckar (26 March 1908 – 17 May 1991) was a Danish biochemist who pioneered the study of cellular respiration. Kalckar made a number of significant contributions to the development of 20th century biochemistry including: * a founder ...

notes:

Refugee and life in the United States

Schmidt spent the next two years as a refugee in Italy and Sweden, where he worked at the University of Naples, the University of Stockholm and the University of Florence. In 1935 he received a Carnegie Foundation Research Fellowship for Displaced German Scholars at

Queen's University at Kingston Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and owns Herstmonceux Castle in East Suss ...

in Canada. In 1937 he joined the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City and the following year the Washington University School of Medicine. In 1940 he became a research associate at the

Tufts University School of Medicine The Tufts University School of Medicine is the medical school of Tufts University, a Private university, private research university in Massachusetts. It was established in 1893 and is located on the university's health sciences campus in downto ...

where he spent the rest of his career, from 1948 as a research professor and from 1955 as a professor of biochemistry. He "made a ground-breaking discovery regarding the development of nucleic acid metabolism, introducing a quantitative method for determining DNA and RNA in tissues. The simplicity and reliability of the method continues to play an important role in molecular biology research." He became a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 1976.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Gerhard German biochemists 20th-century American biochemists 1901 births 1981 deaths Goethe University Frankfurt alumni Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt Tufts University faculty Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Washington University in St. Louis fellows