Hermann von Tappeiner (18 November 1847 in
Meran
Merano (, , ) or Meran () is a city and ''comune'' in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeier ...
– 12 January 1927 in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
) was an Austrian
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 biochemic ...
. He was the son of
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...
Franz Tappeiner (1816–1902).
He studied at the universities of
Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...
,
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
,
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
,
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
and
Tübingen
Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...
, receiving his doctorate in 1872. As a student, his influences included
Carl Ludwig
Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig (; 29 December 1816 – 23 April 1895) was a German physician and physiologist. His work as both a researcher and teacher had a major influence on the understanding, methods and apparatus used in almost all branches ...
and
Gustav von Hüfner
Gustav von Hüfner (13 May 1840 in Köstritz – 14 March 1908 in Tübingen) was a German chemist.
From 1860 to 1865 he studied medicine at the University of Leipzig, and while a student, attended lectures given by biologists Karl Gegenbaur ...
at Leipzig, and
Robert Bunsen
Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (;
30 March 1811
– 16 August 1899) was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium (in 1860) and rubidium (in 1861) with the physicist Gustav Kirchhoff. The Bu ...
at the University of Heidelberg. In 1877 he 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 ...
at the
University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...
. Two years later, he began teaching classes in
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 dietetics at the veterinary school in Munich, and in 1884 became an associate professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacology at the university. In 1893 he was named a full professor of pharmacology at the University of Munich, where he was also head of the institute of experimental pharmacology.
In 1904 he coined the term "photodynamic reaction". He is credited as being the first to perform
photodynamic therapy
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a form of phototherapy involving light and a photosensitizing chemical substance, used in conjunction with molecular oxygen to elicit cell death (phototoxicity).
PDT is popularly used in treating acne. It is used cl ...
(PDT) in humans — beginning in 1903, with
dermatologist
Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medical ...
Albert Jesionek, he conducted experiments via the topical application of
photosensitive Photosensitivity is the amount to which an object reacts upon receiving photons, especially visible light. In medicine, the term is principally used for abnormal reactions of the skin, and two types are distinguished, photoallergy and phototoxicit ...
dye to various skin diseases, followed by exposure to a light source (sunlight or an
arc lamp). Also, he eventually came to understand the necessary role that atmospheric oxygen played in the photodynamic process.
Selected works
* ''Anleitung zu chemisch-diagnostischen Untersuchungen am Krankenbette'' (1885, 5th edition 1892); translated into English in 1898 as "Introduction to chemical methods of clinical diagnosis".
* ''Lehrbuch der Arzneimittellehre und Arzneiverordnungslehre unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der deutschen und österreichischen Pharmakopoe'' (1890, 15th edition 1922) – Textbook of
materia medica and the medical regulation doctrine: with special consideration of German and Austrian
pharmacopoeia
A pharmacopoeia, pharmacopeia, or pharmacopoea (from the obsolete typography ''pharmacopœia'', meaning "drug-making"), in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of compound medicines, and published by ...
.
* ''Die sensibilisierende Wirkung fluorescierender Substanzen; gesammelte Untersuchungen über die photodynamische Erscheinung'' (1907, with
Albert Jodlbauer) – Sensitized fluorescent substances; collected research on the photodynamic phenomenon.
Most widely held works by Hermann Tappeiner
WorldCat Identities
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tappeiner, Hermann von
1847 births
1927 deaths
People from Merano
Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
German pharmacologists
19th-century German chemists
Heidelberg University alumni
20th-century German chemists