Otto Meyerhof

MEYERHOF, Otto (born 1884), a prominent physiologist. In 1909, at the University of Heidelberg, he defended his dissertation and initially worked in the fields of psychology and philosophy, resulting in the monograph «Beiträge zur psychologischen Theorie der Geistesstörungen» (Göttingen, 1910) and a work on Goethe's method in natural science. Then, under the influence of O. Warburg, Meyerhof took up physiology, in which field he achieved worldwide renown. In 1915, Meyerhof assumed the position of first assistant at the Physiological Institute in Kiel, directed by Heber. In 1924, Meyerhof took charge of one of the departments of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Biologie in Dahlem. In 1929, he assumed the position of director of the Physiological Institute at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für medizinische Forschung in Heidelberg. The early physiological works of Meyerhof, which adjoined the works of Warburg, were devoted to the study of the mechanism of oxidative processes in cells, the influence of narcotics and methylene blue on oxidative processes, and the study of the role of the sulfhydryl group. Meyerhof discovered the respiratory coenzyme. The works of this period are summarized in the monograph «Chemical dynamics of living matter» (Russian edition, Moscow-Leningrad, 1926). Beginning in 1919, Meyerhof took up the study of physiology and biochemistry of muscles, devoting the years 1919–1922 to works on energy metabolism in muscles; for these works, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1922 (together with the English physiologist Hill). These works of Meyerhof are fundamental in this field. From 1923 onward, Meyerhof continued to work mainly in the same field, studying various problems of the chemical dynamics of muscles; here, too, he obtained a number of extremely valuable data (for example, in the study of the role of phosphorus compounds, the discovery of argininephosphoric acid in muscles, and the like). The results of Meyerhof's works from 1919 onward are compiled by him in the monograph «Die chemischen Vorgänge im Muskel» (Berlin, 1930; containing a bibliographic index of Meyerhof's works). Meyerhof's works on muscle energetics represent the most valuable factual material, revealing the extraordinary complexity of processes proceeding in a living organism. In the book «Thermodynamik des Lebensprozesses» (Russian edition, Moscow-Leningrad, 1928), Meyerhof, while examining the specific features of processes at different stages of the development of the material world, is nevertheless under the influence of "university" philosophy, repeating a number of Kantian assertions.