Eduardo Braun-Menéndez (January 16, 1903 – January 16, 1959) was a noted Argentine physiologist.

Life and work

Born in

Punta Arenas Punta Arenas (; historically Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. The city was officially renamed as Magallanes in 1927, but in 1938 it was changed back to "Punta Are ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, he was a naturalized Argentine citizen from a very early age, and was raised in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

.Homenaje: Dr. Eduardo Braún Menéndez (1903-1959)
He studied at the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...

, choosing cardiovascular medicine and

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 ...

as his specialties. His doctoral thesis dealt with the relationship between the

pituitary In vertebrate anatomy, the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland, about the size of a chickpea and weighing, on average, in humans. It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain. The hypoph ...

gland and diencephalon to blood pressure, and was developed at the Institute of Physiology under the supervision of Noble laureate Dr. Bernardo Houssay, in 1934. After receiving his doctoral degree, he went to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to study at the

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, where he investigated the

metabolism 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 c ...

of the

heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

. On his return from England, he joined the prestigious team at the Institute of Physiology, with

Luis Federico Leloir Luis Federico Leloir (September 6, 1906 – December 2, 1987) was an Argentine physician and biochemist who received the 1970 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of the metabolic pathways in lactose. Although born in France, Leloir r ...

, Juan Fasciolo, Juan Muñoz, and

Alberto Taquini Alberto Carlos Taquini (born January 21, 1935) is an Argentine biochemist and academic whose " Taquini Plan" resulted in the decentralization of Argentina's public university system. Life and work Taquini was born in Buenos Aires to Haydée Azum ...

to work for a few years on the mechanism of nephrogenic hypertension. He made the most important discovery in his career during this research, that of

angiotensin Angiotensin is a peptide hormone that causes vasoconstriction and an increase in blood pressure. It is part of the renin–angiotensin system, which regulates blood pressure. Angiotensin also stimulates the release of aldosterone from the adren ...

, in 1939.
''Hypertension'' (vol. 32, 1998). In Memoriam: Professor Alberto C. Taquini. At the Institute, Braun-Menéndez became a research leader in cardiovascular physiology in 1945, and served as a senior lecturer and teaching assistant in the same area until 1946. He directed the Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental, Institute of Experimental Biology and Medicine until 1946 and was also the head of electrocardiography and physiotherapy at the Municipal Institute of Radiology and Physiotherapy of Buenos Aires. He returned as Houssay Chair at the Institute of Physiology in 1955, and served as a professor. Additionally, he was a member of the Buenos Aires National Academy of Medicine and was honored with the title of ''

Doctor Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad ho ...

'' by the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

and the University of Brazil. In addition, he was vice president of the Argentine Society of Biology and secretary of the Argentine Association for the Advancement of Sciences. He received the National Award for Science twice. Braun-Menéndez also helped to create the important scientific journal ''Ciencia y Investigación'' which published its first issue in 1945. It was directed by him until 1959, the year that he died. Another of his initiatives included the ''Acta Physiologica Latinoamericana'', a publication written in multiple languages for the publication of the work of

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n physiologists. Dr. Braun-Menéndez died in a plane crash near Mar del Plata with his daughter on January 16, 1959. The accident was Austral Air Lines' first.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun-Menendez, Eduardo 1903 births 1959 deaths People from Punta Arenas Argentine people of Latvian-Jewish descent Argentine people of Spanish descent Chilean emigrants to Argentina Naturalized citizens of Argentina University of Buenos Aires alumni University of Buenos Aires faculty Argentine physiologists Argentine scientists Argentine cardiologists