Hermann Lehmann (8 July 1910 – 13 July 1985) was a German-born British physician and biochemist known for his works on the chemistry and diversity of
hemoglobin
Hemoglobin (haemoglobin BrE) (from the Greek word αἷμα, ''haîma'' 'blood' + Latin ''globus'' 'ball, sphere' + ''-in'') (), abbreviated Hb or Hgb, is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein present in red blood cells (erythrocyte ...
.
Describing about 75
different hemoglobin, he discovered the most number of hemoglobin types than anyone else.
He is regarded as one of the founders of
molecular anthropology
Molecular anthropology, also known as genetic anthropology, is the study of how molecular biology has contributed to the understanding of human evolution. This field of anthropology examines evolutionary links between ancient and modern human popu ...
.
Biography
Hermann Lehmann was born in Halle, eastern Germany.
His father Paul Lehmann was publisher of two local newspaper. His mother Bella (née Apelt) died when he was three years old. He had three sisters and one half-brother.
He attended the state school at Halle for his elementary education. An economic depression,
hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic, forced his father to abandon publication at Halle, and his family moved to Dresden in 1923.
He completed secondary education at the Gymnasium zum heiligen Kreuz (now the
Kreuzschule
The ''Kreuzschule'' (German for "School of the Cross") in Dresden (also known by its Latin name, ''schola crucis'') is the oldest surviving school in Dresden and one of the oldest in Germany. As early as 1300, a schoolmaster (''Cunradus puerorum re ...
) in 1928. Soon after enrolling in a medical course at the
University of Freiberg
The Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (abbreviation: TU Bergakademie Freiberg, TUBAF) is a public university of technology with currently 3655 students in the city of Freiberg, Saxony, Germany. Its focus is on exploration, mining & e ...
in Breisgau, his father died and moved to Frankfurt to live with his uncle and study there. In 1931, he entered
Heidelberg University
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
but before he complete the M.D. course, the rising
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
of
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
compelled him to give up his final examination in 1933. Moving to Switzerland, he submitted his already finished thesis on
gastric secretion titled S''alzsauräproduktion in Sauglingsmagen nach Histaminreiz. Beobachtet mittels fraktionerter Ausheberung'' to the
University of Basel
The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...
. The university awarded him an M.D. in January 1934, but without medical license since his medical course was in Germany.
He was appointed as a research assistant to
Otto Fritz Meyerhof (winner of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1922) at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Heidelberg. Meyerhof arranged for his visit to the University of Cambridge in 1935, where he met
Frederick Gowland Hopkins, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929.
Hopkins invited him to move to Cambridge, and it was anecdotally said: "Gowland Hopkins told him to leave his white coat hanging behind the door of the laboratory where it would be ready for him on his return!" The same year he attended a conference at Moscow, upon the return of which he was accused of attending the Trades Union Conference.
As life got more difficult, he went back to England and get enrolled for a Ph.D. course in biochemistry at
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
in 1936.
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, in ...
and
Dorothy Needham
Dorothy Mary Moyle Needham FRS (22 September 1896 – 22 December 1987) was an English biochemist known for her work on the biochemistry of muscle. She was married to biochemist Joseph Needham.
Early life and education
Dorothy Mary Moyle wa ...
, a researcher couple at Hopkins' laboratory helped him get a grant for Jewish refugees and let him their house.
Supervised by Joseph Needham, his thesis was on ''Aspects of carbohydrate metabolism in the absence of molecular oxygen''. He received the degree two years later and immediately worked under the
Beit Memorial Fellowships for Medical Research until 1942.
As World War II advanced, classified as a "friendly alien", he was among the Jewish refugees rounded up at Huyton in 1940. In October, he was released and volunteered himself in the work efforts.
Charles Scott Sherrington
Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (27 November 1857 – 4 March 1952) was an eminent English neurophysiologist. His experimental research established many aspects of contemporary neuroscience, including the concept of the spinal reflex as a system ...
, Nobel laurate and former President of the Royal Society, help him get a position in the Emergency Medical Service at
Runwell Hospital
Runwell Hospital was a hospital in the Chelmsford district of Essex. It was managed by the South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.
History
Following the ending of contracts accommodating patients at the Essex County Council's ...
in Essex. In 1942, he was recruited, again with help of Sherrington, in the
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...
(R.A.M.C.) to investigate a rampant
anaemia
Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...
in the British Army in India. He was initially a pathologist, raised to Lieutenant Colonel and later appointed assistant director of pathology to the North East India Command. It was while working there that he received an application for naturalisation from a "certain Captain Lehmann, R.A.M.C.", to which he sent a full recommendation.
His major woks in the biochemistry of blood originated there as he witnessed high incidence of
iron deficiency among the Indian troops. As the war ended he was demobilised in the late 1946, and was appointed in 1947 as a Senior Nutrition Research Officer under Colonial Medical Research Fellowship at Makerere College (now
Makerere University
Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of ni ...
) in Kampala, Uganda.
In 1949, he returned to England as Consultant Pathologist at the
Pembury Hospital
Tunbridge Wells Hospital is a large district general hospital in Pembury near Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. The hospital is located on Tonbridge Road, around to the north-west of P ...
in Kent. He moved to
St Bartholomew's Hospital in London as a Senior Lecturer in 1951 and worked there until 1963. He was appointed as a biochemist at the
Addenbrooke’s Hospital of the University of Cambridge in 1963. The
Medical Research Council established the Abnormal Haemoglobin Research Unit under his supervision that year under the university. He eventually became the first professor of clinical biochemistry in the university in 1967.
Between 1963 and 1975 he was Honorary Director of the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
for the Abnormal Haemoglobin Research Unit. He retired from the university in 1977, and continued a research programme called the National Haemoglobin Reference Centre funded by WHO.
In 1940, Lehmann married Benigna Norman-Butler, a musician, with whom he had two daughters, Susan and Ruth, and two sons, Paul and David.
Scientific contributions
Lehmann was a pioneer in the study of the chemistry of blood. One of his first major contributions was on the etiology of anaemia in Uganda. At the Makerere College, he found that anaemia in many Africans was due to parasitic worm infection, specifically
hookworm infection. His next major work was the case of
pseudocholinesterase deficiency
Pseudocholinesterase deficiency is an autosomal recessive inherited blood plasma enzyme abnormality in which the body's production of butyrylcholinesterase (BCHE; pseudocholinesterase aka PCE) is impaired. People who have this abnormality may be ...
, a deadly blood disease in which individuals have severe sensitivity to certain
anesthetic drugs. While working at St Bartholomew's Hospital, he discovered that pseudocholinesterase deficiency is the cause of idiosyncratic hypersensitivity to
suxamethonium. He developed biochemical test for the diagnosis, and also discovered the genetic basis of the disease.
Lehmanns most important works were on the variants of haemoglobins. He discovered about 75 different types of haemoglobins during his career.
His discoveries of haemoglobins related to blood diseases such as sickle cell disease are lasting important in medicine and biochemistry. He was credited as "more than anybody responsible for cataloguing the enormous wealth of variations in the hemoglobin mutants and setting our base of understanding of the population genetics, anthropology, and clinical diversity of the structural variants."
Honours and awards
Lehmann received the Darwin's Prize for his Ph.D. thesis at Christ's College in 1938.
He won the
Rivers Memorial Medal
The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...
of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1961 for his studies of sickle cell disease in the Andaman Islands.
He is regarded as one of the founders of
molecular anthropology
Molecular anthropology, also known as genetic anthropology, is the study of how molecular biology has contributed to the understanding of human evolution. This field of anthropology examines evolutionary links between ancient and modern human popu ...
.
He was elected a Fellow of the Christ's College in 1965, and became an honorary fellow in 1982. At Christ's College, he served as Fellows’ Steward, editor of the college magazine, and president of the College Medical Society. The University of Cambridge conferred him the degree of D.Sc. in 1957. He was an honorary professor in the University of Freiburg in 1964.
He received the Martin Luther King Prize for Research on Sickle-Cell Anaemia in 1971, Conway Evans Prize of the Royal Society and
Royal College of Physicians in 1976, and Wellcome Prize of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science
The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...
in 1978. He was elected
FRS in 1972. He was elected President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1972, and President of the
Cambridge Philosophical Society
The Cambridge Philosophical Society (CPS) is a scientific society at the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1819. The name derives from the medieval use of the word philosophy to denote any research undertaken outside the fields of law ...
in 1985. He was appointed
Commander of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in 1980, and the
National Order of the Ivory Coast
The National Order of the Ivory Coast (sometimes simply mentioned as National Order) is the highest state order of knighthood of the Ivory Coast.
History
The Order was founded on 10 April 1961 to celebrate the independence of the Ivory Coast wh ...
in 1981.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehmann, Hermann
1910 births
1985 deaths
Knights Bachelor
Fellows of the Royal Society
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
University of Basel alumni
German emigrants to England
Academics of the University of Cambridge
Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians
Fellows of the Royal College of Pathologists
Heidelberg University alumni
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom
British Army personnel of World War II
Royal Army Medical Corps officers