Otto Heinrich Warburg
German physiologist who won the 1931 Nobel Prize for work on the respiratory enzyme.
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Otto Heinrich Warburg was a German physiologist, physician and Nobel laureate, born on 8 October 1883 and died on 1 August 1970. He was the only winner of the 1931 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, honoured for uncovering the nature and action of the respiratory enzyme. His research on how cells, and cancer cells in particular, take in oxygen and process energy showed that animal tumours generate large amounts of lactic acid. Over his career he was nominated for the Nobel Prize 48 times. He also served as a cavalry officer in the First World War and received the Iron Cross.
Quick Facts
- Born
- 8 October 1883
- Birthplace
- Freiburg, Baden, German Empire
- Father
- Emil Warburg
- Died
- 1 August 1970
- Place of death
- Berlin, West Germany
- Education
- University of Berlin; University of Heidelberg
- Doctoral advisor
- Emil Fischer; Ludolf von Krehl
- Field
- Cell biology
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Warburg was born in Freiburg im Breisgau. His father, the physicist Emil Warburg, belonged to the Warburg family of Altona and headed the Physikalische Reichsanstalt; his mother came from a Protestant family in Baden. He took a doctorate in chemistry under Emil Fischer in Berlin in 1906 and a medical degree in Heidelberg in 1911 under Ludolf von Krehl. From 1908 to 1914 he worked at the Naples Marine Biological Station, where he showed that respiration in sea urchin eggs rises sharply after fertilization. After serving with the Uhlans, he returned to research at the urging of Albert Einstein, a friend of his father.
Reader's Guide
In 1918 Warburg became a professor at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Berlin-Dahlem, and by 1931 he directed the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cell Physiology, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. Under the Nazis, who classed him as partly Jewish, he was barred from teaching but kept doing research, briefly losing his post in 1941 after criticising the regime. He lived in Dahlem with his partner Jacob Heiss. George Wald discovered vitamin A in the retina while studying with him in 1932–1933.
Did You Know?
- He was nominated for the Nobel Prize 13 times in 1931 alone, the year he won.
- His Naples experiments showed that iron is essential for larval development.
- He refused to give the Nazi salute.
- In September 1942 his request for equal status with German Aryans was granted.
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