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EspañolOTTO HEINRICH WARBURG
:''This article is about the biochemist and Nobel laureate. For the botanist and World Zionist Organization president, see Otto Warburg.
'Otto Heinrich Warburg' (October 8, 1883, Freiburg im Breisgau – August 1, 1970, Berlin), son of physicist Emil Warburg, was a German physiologist, medical doctor and Nobel laureate. Warburg was one of the twentieth century's leading cell biologists.[1]
Otto's father, Emil Warburg, was a distant relative of the illustrious Warburg family of Altona, who had converted to Christianity reportedly after a disagreement in the family. Emil was also President of the Physikalische Reichsanstalt, Wirklicher Geheimer Oberregierungsrat. Otto's mother was the daughter of a Protestant family of civil servants from Baden.
Otto studied chemistry under the great Emil Fischer, and earned his Doctorate of Chemistry in Berlin in 1906. He then studied under Ludolf von Krehl, and earned the degree of Doctor of Medicine in Heidelberg in 1911.
Between 1908 and 1914, Otto was affiliated with the Naples Marine Biological Station, also known as the Stazione Zoologica, in Naples, Italy, where he did research. In later years he would return for visits, and maintained a lifelong friendship with the family of the station's director.
A lifelong equestrian, he served as an officer in the elite Uhlans (cavalry) on the front during the First World War where he won the Iron Cross. Warburg later credited this experience with affording him invaluable insights into "real life" outside the confines of academia. Towards the end of the war, when the outcome was unmistakable, Albert Einstein, who had been a friend of Otto's father Emil, wrote Otto at the behest of friends, asking him to leave the army and return to academia, as it would be a tragedy for the world to lose his talents.
While working at the Marine Biological Station Warburg performed research on oxgygen consumption in sea urchin eggs after fertilization, and proved that upon fertilization, the rate of respiration increases by as much as six-fold. His experiments also proved that iron is essential for the development of the larval stage.
In 1918 Warburg was appointed Professor at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (in German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft) for Biology in Berlin-Dahlem. By 1931 he was named Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cell Physiology there, which was a donation founded the previous year by the Rockefeller Foundation to the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft (now renamed the Max Planck Institute).
Warburg investigated the metabolism of tumors and the respiration of cells, particularly cancer cells, and in 1931 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his "discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme."[2]
It is widely rumored he was selected for a second Nobel Prize in 1944, but was not allowed to accept the prize due to the policies of the German government at the time. This has yet to be confirmed by the The Nobel Foundation or any reputable source. It ''is'' however documented that Adolf Hitler forbade three German Nobel Laureates, Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt and Gerhard Domagk, from accepting the Nobel Prize.[3]
Three scientists who worked in Warburg's lab, including Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, went on to win the Nobel Prize. Among other discoveries, Krebs is credited with the identification of the citric acid cycle, which also bears his name as the ''Krebs Cycle''.
Main articles: Warburg hypothesis
In 1924, Warburg claimed that cancer, maligant growth, and tumor growth are caused by the fact that tumor cells mainly generate energy (as e.g. adenosine triphosphate / ATP) by non-oxidative breakdown of glucose (a process called glycolysis). This is in contrast to "healthy" cells which mainly generate energy from oxidative breakdown of pyruvate. Pyruvate is an end-product of glycolysis, and is oxidized within the mitochondria. Hence and according to Warburg, cancer should be interpreted as a mitochondrial dysfunction.
"Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. Almost anything can cause cancer. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. The prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen (oxidation of sugar) in normal body cells by fermentation of sugar" -- Dr. Otto Warburg Lecture delivered to Nobel Laureates on June 30, 1966 at Lindau, Lake Constance, Germany.
In sum, cancer languishes amid oxygen and thrives amid sugar.
Otto Warburg edited and has much of his original work published in ''The Metabolism of Tumours'' (tr. 1931) and wrote ''New Methods of Cell Physiology'' (1962). An unabashed Anglophile, Otto Warburg was thrilled when Oxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate. Otto Warburg was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite in 1952. Warburg was known to tell other universities not to bother with honorary doctorates, and to ask officials to mail him medals he had been awarded so as to avoid a ceremony that would separate him from his beloved laboratory, an unusual trait in German culture.
When frustrated by the lack of acceptance of his ideas, Warburg was known to quote an aphorism he attributed to Max Planck that science doesn't progress because scientists change their minds, but rather because scientists attached to erroneous views die, and are replaced.
Seemingly utterly convinced of the accuracy of his conclusions, Warburg expressed dismay at the "continual discovery of cancer agents and cancer viruses" which he expected to "hinder necessary preventative measures and thereby become responsible for cancer cases".
In his later years Warburg came to be a bit of an eccentric in that he was convinced that illness resulted from pollution; this caused him to become a bit of a health nut. He insisted on eating bread made from wheat grown organically on land that belonged to him. When he visited restaurants he often made arrangements to pay the full price for a cup of tea but to only be served boiling water, from which he would make tea with a tea bag he had brought with him. He was also known to go to significant lengths to obtain organic butter whose quality he trusted.
★ ''Über die Rolle des Eisens in der Atmung des Seeigeleis nebst Bemerkungen über einige durch Eisen beschleunigte Oxydationen m. Abb. ''(Sitzungsber. Heidelberger Akad. Wiss. math.-nat. Kl B Heidelberg, 1911) (Trans: On the rôle of Iron in the Breathing of the Sea Urchin Egg and Comments about some Oxidations accelerated by Iron. Proceedings of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences Heidelberg 1911.)
★ ''Schwermetalle als Wirkungsgruppe von Fermenten'' (Berlin, 1946.) (Trans: Heavy metal prosthetic groups and enzyme action)
★ ''Ideen zur Fermentchemie der Tumoren (Abh. der Deutschen Akad. der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Math-naturwissenschaft. Kl 1947'', Berlin 1947) (Trans: Theses on the enzymatic chemistry of Tumors, Procedings of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin, mathematical-scientific ?, Berlin 1947)
★ ''Wasserstoffübertragende Fermente'' (Berlin, Saenger 1948) (Trans: Hydrogen-transferring Enzymes)
★ ''Weiterentwicklung der zellphysiologischen Methoden: angewandt auf Krebs, Photosynthese und Wirkungsweise der Röntgenstrahlung: Arbeiten aus den Jahren 1945-1961'', (Thieme, Stuttgart 1962) (Trans: Further Developments of Methods in Cellular Physiology applied to Cancer, Photosynthesis and the Effects of X-ray Radiation) Texts in German and English
1. Otto Heinrich Warburg. 1883-1970, , HA, Krebs, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society,
2. NobelPrize.org, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1931 accessed April 20, 2007
3. NobelPrize.org, Four Nobel Laureates have been forced by authorities to decline the Nobel Prize! accessed April 20, 2007
★ .
★ .
★ .
★ .
★ .
★ Biography
★ Notable Names Database (NNDB) Biography
★ Nobel Lecture biography
★ 1931 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
★ ''The Prime Cause and Prevention of Cancer''
★ A short summary of his work at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
★ Recent scientific review on the role of Otto Warburg in the 21st century
★ Exerpt from ''The Warburgs'' by Ron Chernow (pgs. 539-541))
'Otto Heinrich Warburg' (October 8, 1883, Freiburg im Breisgau – August 1, 1970, Berlin), son of physicist Emil Warburg, was a German physiologist, medical doctor and Nobel laureate. Warburg was one of the twentieth century's leading cell biologists.[1]
| Contents |
| Earlier life |
| Scientific work and Nobel Prize |
| Cancer hypothesis |
| Later years |
| Works by Otto Warburg |
| Notes |
| References |
| External links |
Earlier life
Otto's father, Emil Warburg, was a distant relative of the illustrious Warburg family of Altona, who had converted to Christianity reportedly after a disagreement in the family. Emil was also President of the Physikalische Reichsanstalt, Wirklicher Geheimer Oberregierungsrat. Otto's mother was the daughter of a Protestant family of civil servants from Baden.
Otto studied chemistry under the great Emil Fischer, and earned his Doctorate of Chemistry in Berlin in 1906. He then studied under Ludolf von Krehl, and earned the degree of Doctor of Medicine in Heidelberg in 1911.
Between 1908 and 1914, Otto was affiliated with the Naples Marine Biological Station, also known as the Stazione Zoologica, in Naples, Italy, where he did research. In later years he would return for visits, and maintained a lifelong friendship with the family of the station's director.
A lifelong equestrian, he served as an officer in the elite Uhlans (cavalry) on the front during the First World War where he won the Iron Cross. Warburg later credited this experience with affording him invaluable insights into "real life" outside the confines of academia. Towards the end of the war, when the outcome was unmistakable, Albert Einstein, who had been a friend of Otto's father Emil, wrote Otto at the behest of friends, asking him to leave the army and return to academia, as it would be a tragedy for the world to lose his talents.
Scientific work and Nobel Prize
While working at the Marine Biological Station Warburg performed research on oxgygen consumption in sea urchin eggs after fertilization, and proved that upon fertilization, the rate of respiration increases by as much as six-fold. His experiments also proved that iron is essential for the development of the larval stage.
In 1918 Warburg was appointed Professor at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (in German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft) for Biology in Berlin-Dahlem. By 1931 he was named Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cell Physiology there, which was a donation founded the previous year by the Rockefeller Foundation to the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft (now renamed the Max Planck Institute).
Warburg investigated the metabolism of tumors and the respiration of cells, particularly cancer cells, and in 1931 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his "discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme."[2]
It is widely rumored he was selected for a second Nobel Prize in 1944, but was not allowed to accept the prize due to the policies of the German government at the time. This has yet to be confirmed by the The Nobel Foundation or any reputable source. It ''is'' however documented that Adolf Hitler forbade three German Nobel Laureates, Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt and Gerhard Domagk, from accepting the Nobel Prize.[3]
Three scientists who worked in Warburg's lab, including Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, went on to win the Nobel Prize. Among other discoveries, Krebs is credited with the identification of the citric acid cycle, which also bears his name as the ''Krebs Cycle''.
Cancer hypothesis
Main articles: Warburg hypothesis
In 1924, Warburg claimed that cancer, maligant growth, and tumor growth are caused by the fact that tumor cells mainly generate energy (as e.g. adenosine triphosphate / ATP) by non-oxidative breakdown of glucose (a process called glycolysis). This is in contrast to "healthy" cells which mainly generate energy from oxidative breakdown of pyruvate. Pyruvate is an end-product of glycolysis, and is oxidized within the mitochondria. Hence and according to Warburg, cancer should be interpreted as a mitochondrial dysfunction.
"Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. Almost anything can cause cancer. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. The prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen (oxidation of sugar) in normal body cells by fermentation of sugar" -- Dr. Otto Warburg Lecture delivered to Nobel Laureates on June 30, 1966 at Lindau, Lake Constance, Germany.
In sum, cancer languishes amid oxygen and thrives amid sugar.
Later years
Otto Warburg edited and has much of his original work published in ''The Metabolism of Tumours'' (tr. 1931) and wrote ''New Methods of Cell Physiology'' (1962). An unabashed Anglophile, Otto Warburg was thrilled when Oxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate. Otto Warburg was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite in 1952. Warburg was known to tell other universities not to bother with honorary doctorates, and to ask officials to mail him medals he had been awarded so as to avoid a ceremony that would separate him from his beloved laboratory, an unusual trait in German culture.
When frustrated by the lack of acceptance of his ideas, Warburg was known to quote an aphorism he attributed to Max Planck that science doesn't progress because scientists change their minds, but rather because scientists attached to erroneous views die, and are replaced.
Seemingly utterly convinced of the accuracy of his conclusions, Warburg expressed dismay at the "continual discovery of cancer agents and cancer viruses" which he expected to "hinder necessary preventative measures and thereby become responsible for cancer cases".
In his later years Warburg came to be a bit of an eccentric in that he was convinced that illness resulted from pollution; this caused him to become a bit of a health nut. He insisted on eating bread made from wheat grown organically on land that belonged to him. When he visited restaurants he often made arrangements to pay the full price for a cup of tea but to only be served boiling water, from which he would make tea with a tea bag he had brought with him. He was also known to go to significant lengths to obtain organic butter whose quality he trusted.
Works by Otto Warburg
★ ''Über die Rolle des Eisens in der Atmung des Seeigeleis nebst Bemerkungen über einige durch Eisen beschleunigte Oxydationen m. Abb. ''(Sitzungsber. Heidelberger Akad. Wiss. math.-nat. Kl B Heidelberg, 1911) (Trans: On the rôle of Iron in the Breathing of the Sea Urchin Egg and Comments about some Oxidations accelerated by Iron. Proceedings of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences Heidelberg 1911.)
★ ''Schwermetalle als Wirkungsgruppe von Fermenten'' (Berlin, 1946.) (Trans: Heavy metal prosthetic groups and enzyme action)
★ ''Ideen zur Fermentchemie der Tumoren (Abh. der Deutschen Akad. der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Math-naturwissenschaft. Kl 1947'', Berlin 1947) (Trans: Theses on the enzymatic chemistry of Tumors, Procedings of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin, mathematical-scientific ?, Berlin 1947)
★ ''Wasserstoffübertragende Fermente'' (Berlin, Saenger 1948) (Trans: Hydrogen-transferring Enzymes)
★ ''Weiterentwicklung der zellphysiologischen Methoden: angewandt auf Krebs, Photosynthese und Wirkungsweise der Röntgenstrahlung: Arbeiten aus den Jahren 1945-1961'', (Thieme, Stuttgart 1962) (Trans: Further Developments of Methods in Cellular Physiology applied to Cancer, Photosynthesis and the Effects of X-ray Radiation) Texts in German and English
Notes
1. Otto Heinrich Warburg. 1883-1970, , HA, Krebs, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society,
2. NobelPrize.org, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1931 accessed April 20, 2007
3. NobelPrize.org, Four Nobel Laureates have been forced by authorities to decline the Nobel Prize! accessed April 20, 2007
References
★ .
★ .
★ .
★ .
★ .
External links
★ Biography
★ Notable Names Database (NNDB) Biography
★ Nobel Lecture biography
★ 1931 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
★ ''The Prime Cause and Prevention of Cancer''
★ A short summary of his work at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
★ Recent scientific review on the role of Otto Warburg in the 21st century
★ Exerpt from ''The Warburgs'' by Ron Chernow (pgs. 539-541))
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