Otto Heinrich Warburg

Science / Scientist Datebook: October 8

 

Biochemist, Medical Doctor, and Nobel Laureate

Otto Heinrich Warburg (October 8, 1883 – August 1, 1970), a German physiologist, medical doctor and Nobel laureate, was the son of physicist Emil Warburg.  One of the 20th century's leading biochemists, his combined work in plant physiology, cell metabolism and oncology made him an integral figure in the later development of systems biology. He also worked with Dean Burk in photosynthesis to discover the I-quantum reaction that splits the carbon dioxide (CO2), activated by the respiration.

He won the Nobel Prize of 1931. An officer in the elite Ulan (cavalry regiment) during the First World War, he won the Iron Cross (1st Class) for bravery.

Brief Profile

Otto Warburg's father, Emil Warburg, was a member of the illustrious Warburg family of Altona.
He had converted to Christianity reportedly after a disagreement with his Conservative Jewish parents. Emil was president of the Physikalische Reichsanstalt, Wirklicher Geheimer Oberregierungsrat (True Senior Privy Counselor). His mother was the daughter of a Protestant family of bankers and civil servants from Baden.


Warburg studied chemistry under the great Emil Fischer and earned his Doctorate of Chemistry in Berlin (1906), then studied under Ludolf von Krehl. He earned the degree of Doctor of Medicine in Heidelberg in 1911. Between 1908 and 1914, he was affiliated with the Naples Marine Biological Station, in Naples, Italy, conducting research.

Scientific Work and Nobel Laureate

While working at the Marine Biological Station, Warburg performed research on oxygen consumption in sea urchin eggs after fertilization, and proved that upon fertilization, the rate of respiration increases by as much as sixfold. His experiments also proved iron is essential for the development of the larval stage.

In 1918, he was appointed professor at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Berlin-Dahlem, a part of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesselschaft. By 1931 he was named director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cell Physiology.

He investigated the metabolism of tumors and the respiration of cells, particularly cancer cells. In 1931, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his "discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme." The award came after receiving 46 nominations over a period of nine years beginning in 1923, 13 of which were submitted in 1931, the year he won the prize.

In 1944, Warburg was nominated for a second Nobel Prize in Physiology by Alvert Szent-Györgyi, for his work on nicotinamide, the mechanism and enzymes involved in fermentation, and the discovery of flavine in yellow enzymes. Some sources reported he was selected to receive the award that year, but was prevented from receiving it by Hitler's regime, which in 1937 had issued a decree prohibiting Germans from accepting Nobel Prizes. According to the Nobel Foundation, this rumor is not true, although Warburg was considered a worthwhile candidate, he was not selected for the prize.


Image Credit:

Otto Warburg. en.wikipedia.org / Public Domain 

Resources:

• The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1931. NobelPrize.org.  Accessed October 8, 2013. 

• Otto Warburg. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.  Accessed October 8, 2013.

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