Gravvård robin fåhreus uppsala gamla kyrkogård

Robert (Robin) Sanno Fåhræus, born 15 October 1888 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, died 18 September 1968 in

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

, was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

medical researcher noted for his contributions to

hemorheology Hemorheology, also spelled haemorheology (from Greek ‘αἷμα, ''haima'' 'blood' and rheology, from Greek ῥέω ''rhéō'', ' flow' and -λoγία, ''-logia'' 'study of'), or blood rheology, is the study of flow properties of blood and its ...

Biography

Fåhræus was the son of art historian Klas Fåhraeus and actress

Olga Björkegren Olga Augusta Christina Björkegren, (8 September 1857 – 30 April 1950), was a Swedish opera singer. Daughter of the Sommelier Per Björkegren and Anna Söderberg. She was a student at the Royal Dramatic Training Academy in 1873, and active at ...

. He commenced studies at

Karolinska Institute The Karolinska Institute (KI; sv, Karolinska Institutet; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden. The Karolinska Institute is consist ...

in 1908, where he received his medical license in 1922. Before that, in 1921, he had completed his research doctorate with the title ''The suspension-stability of the blood''. He became associate professor of experimental

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

at the Karolinska Institute in 1922. He was professor of pathology at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

from 1928 to 1947, and professor of general pathology and pathological anatomy in Uppsala from 1947 to 1955, after his previous chair had been split in two. Fåhræus became a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

in 1935. In 1966, the International Society of Hemorheology awarded him their first Poiseuille medal, the Society's highest award.

Research

While studying at the Karolinska Institute he conducted research on

eclampsia Eclampsia is the onset of seizures (convulsions) in a woman with pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is one of the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy that presents with three main features: new onset of high blood pressure, large amounts of protein in ...

and observed that blood samples from pregnant women easily could be distinguished from other blood samples because the

red blood cell Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "holl ...

s descended more quickly in the test tubes, leaving a thick layer of

blood plasma Blood plasma is a light amber-colored liquid component of blood in which blood cells are absent, but contains proteins and other constituents of whole blood in suspension. It makes up about 55% of the body's total blood volume. It is the intra ...

on top. This phenomenon is the

erythrocyte sedimentation rate The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR or sed rate) is the rate at which red blood cells in anticoagulated whole blood descend in a standardized tube over a period of one hour. It is a common hematology test, and is a non-specific measure of ...

, which can be used as a diagnostic tool. After Fåhræus had received his position at the Karolinska Institute in 1922, he sought contact with professor

Theodor Svedberg Theodor Svedberg (30 August 1884 – 25 February 1971) was a Swedish chemist and Nobel laureate for his research on colloids and proteins using the ultracentrifuge. Svedberg was active at Uppsala University from the mid 1900s to late 1940s. Wh ...

in Uppsala and suggested that the recently built

ultracentrifuge An ultracentrifuge is a centrifuge optimized for spinning a rotor at very high speeds, capable of generating acceleration as high as (approx. ). There are two kinds of ultracentrifuges, the preparative and the analytical ultracentrifuge. Both cla ...

should be used to determine the

molecular mass The molecular mass (''m'') is the mass of a given molecule: it is measured in daltons (Da or u). Different molecules of the same compound may have different molecular masses because they contain different isotopes of an element. The related quanti ...

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 ...

. Svedberg and Fåhræus published the result in 1926, the same year Svedberg received the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

. In Uppsala from 1928, Fåhræus started to study the flow of blood in thin blood vessels, which led to the discovery of two effects named after him. In 1929 he described the

Fåhræus effect The Fåhræus effect is the decrease in average concentration of red blood cells in human blood as the diameter of the glass tube in which it is flowing decreases. In other words, in blood vessels with diameters less than 500 micrometers, the he ...

, a decrease in the average concentration of red blood cells when blood flows in a tube of smaller diameter. In 1931 he and co-worker Torsten Lindqvist described the

Fåhræus–Lindqvist effect The Fåhraeus–Lindqvist effect describes how the viscosity of a fluid, in this case blood, changes with the diameter of the tube it travels through. In particular there is a 'decrease in viscosity as the tube's diameter ''decreases (although on ...

, the change of the

viscosity The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the inte ...

of blood with the diameter of the tube it travels through.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fåhraeus, Robin Uppsala University faculty Karolinska Institute alumni Swedish pathologists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Robin Fåhræus 1888 births 1968 deaths Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala