Oswald Schmiedeberg


Oswald Schmiedeberg was a Baltic German pharmacologist. In 1866 he earned his medical doctorate from the University of Dorpat with a thesis concerning the measurement of chloroform in blood, before becoming the first professor of pharmacology at the University of Strasbourg, where he remained for 46 years.
In 1911, he testified in the United States v. Forty Barrels & Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola trial, and later, was a major factor in the success of the German pharmaceutical industry prior to the Second World War, having trained most of the European professors at the time.

Early life and family

Oswald Schmiedeberg was born in Courland, one of the Baltic provinces of Russia.
His parents were Wilhelm Schmiedeberg, born 1809 in Windau, Courland, died 1878 in Dorpat, and his wife Lucie Bernard, born 1813 in Lausanne, Switzerland, died 1871. He was the eldest of six siblings.

Career

In 1866 he earned his medical doctorate from the University of Dorpat with a thesis concerning the measurement of chloroform in blood, titled "Determination and Concentration of Chloroform in the Blood", and remained an assistant to Rudolf Buchheim at Dorpat until 1869. He was appointed Chair of Pharmacology and for one year then worked with Carl Ludwig at the University of Leipzig.
In 1872 he became the first professor of pharmacology at the University of Strasbourg, where he remained for the next 46 years.
His work largely dealt with chemicals poisonous to the heart, causing vomiting and those causing passing urine, as well as hypnotics, venoms and metals. With his pupil Hans Horst Meyer he discovered glucuronic acid as a conjugation partner in xenobiotic metabolism and later found that glucuronic acid was also a component of cartilage and occurred as a disaccharide of chondroitin sulfate. He studied the composition of hyaluronic acid and explored its relationship to collagen, amyloid and chondroitin sulfate. In 1869 he demonstrated that muscarine had a similar effect on the heart as electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve. He also demonstrated the hypnotic properties of urethane.
In 1911, he testified in the United States v. Forty Barrels & Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola trial.
Schmiedeberg was a major factor in the success of the German pharmaceutical industry prior to World War II, having trained most of the professors at the time. He published over 200 scientific books and articles and with pathologists Bernhard Naunyn and Edwin Klebs, he co-founded the journal Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology.

Death and legacy

He died in Baden-Baden.

Selected publications