Paul Zweifel (30 June 1848 in

Höngg Höngg is a quarter in district 10 in Zürich. It was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Zürich in 1934. The quarter has a population of 21,186, distributed across an area of 6.98 km². Höngg is renowned f ...

, near

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

– 13 August 1927 in

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 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) was a German

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...

and

physiologist 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 a ...

. In 1876 he proved that the

fetus A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal deve ...

was

metabolically Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...

active.

Biography

Zweifel was born in Switzerland; his father was a physician. He was educated at the

University of Zürich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

(M.D. 1871), studying under

Adolf Gusserow Adolf Ludwig Sigismund Gusserow (Berlin, 8 July 1836 – Berlin, 8 February 1906) was a German gynecologist who was a native of Berlin. He married Clara Oppenheim (1861–1944), a descendant of Berlin banker Joseph Mendelssohn. Gusserow began his ...

(1836-1906). In 1871, he received the ''

venia legendi 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 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 ea ...

, where he had already become an assistant in the gynecological institute. At Strassburg, he conducted studies on the physiology of the fetus and

placenta The placenta is a temporary embryonic and later fetal organ that begins developing from the blastocyst shortly after implantation. It plays critical roles in facilitating nutrient, gas and waste exchange between the physically separate mater ...

Felix Hoppe-Seyler Ernst Felix Immanuel Hoppe-Seyler (''né'' Felix Hoppe; 26 December 1825 – 10 August 1895) was a German physiologist and chemist, and the principal founder of the disciplines of biochemistry and molecular biology. Biography Hoppe-Seyler was b ...

's institute. In 1876 he was appointed professor of gynecology at the

University of Erlangen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. In 1887 he transferred to

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, where he served as the Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology until his retirement 35 years later (1921). He held the title ''Geheimer Medizinal-Rat''. In 1876, he became the first to demonstrate that the fetus ''in utero'' is metabolically active, consuming

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

. This was a hotly debated question before Zweifel, and his discovery introduced the modern era of fetal physiology research. He also made extensive use of

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

to evaluate competing

obstetrical procedures Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surg ...

. In 1931, a road in the Probstheida district of Leipzig was named ''Zweifelstraße'' in his honor.Leipzig-Lexikon
Zweifelstraße Also a building at the University of Erlangen bears his name.

Works

Zweifel contributed over 100 monographs to medical journals. Among his many works may be mentioned: *''Über den Verdauungsapparat der Neugeborenen'' (Strasburg, 1874). *''Lehrbuch der Operativen Geburtshülfe'' (

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 ...

, 1881; appeared as ''Lehrbuch der Geburtshülfe'', Stuttgart, 1887, 5th ed. 1901). *''Der Einfluss der Aerztlichen Thätigkeit auf die Bevölkerungsbewegung'' (Stuttgart, 1887). *''Die Symphyseotomie'' (Stuttgart 1893). *''Ätiologie, Prophylaxis und Therapie der Rachitis'' (Stuttgart, 1900). *''Ätiologie, Begriff und Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers'' (Leipzig, J.A. Barth, 1912).

References

Bibliography

* Pagel, J.L., ''Biographisches Lexikon''. *''Meyers Konversations-Lexikon''. *''Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon''.

External links

Short biography
from the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen
Short biography
from Frauenklinik Erlangen *''Jewish Encyclopedia''
“Zweifel, Paul”
by Isidore Singer and Frederick Haneman (1906). {{DEFAULTSORT:Zweifel, Paul 1848 births 1927 deaths German physiologists German gynaecologists Academic staff of Leipzig University People from Erlangen