Otto Loewi
Nobel laureate from the University of Graz
| The Nobel laureate Otto Loewi worked and conducted research for decades at the University of Graz. Being of Jewish descent, however, he was forced to leave the country in 1938 and emigrated to the USA.
1873 Otto Loewi is born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
1900 The medical doctor qualifies as a university lecturer in Marburg (Germany). His research proves that, contrary to what was believed at the time, the animal organism is capable of synthesising proteins from amino acids.
1905-1909 The German citizen Loewi accompanies his professor from Marburg to Vienna to assist in his researches there.
1909-1938 In 1909, Loewi – who has by now become an Austrian citizen – goes to Graz, where he accepts a chair of pharmacology at the University there. In the years 1912/13 he also serves as dean of the faculty of medicine. In 1936, Otto Loewi receives the Nobel Prize for his outstanding research into the transmission of nerve impulses to organs.
1938 The famous scientist is forced to leave Austria because of his Jewish origins.
1940-1960 From London, Otto Loewi moves to the USA, where he continues his work as a researcher.
1961 Otto Loewi dies in New York at the age of 88.
Otto Loewi (*03.06.1873 +25.12.1961)
Strictly speaking, Otto Loewi was neither a Styrian nor even a native Austrian. However, the work of this German scientist, who was born in Frankfurt am Main on 3 June 1873, is inextricably linked to Graz.
After taking his school-leaving examination („Matura“) in his native city, Loewi went to Strasbourg to study medicine. His PhD thesis was based on studies of isolated frog hearts. The future Nobel laureate was to remain faithful to this experimental principle for almost all his life.
Outstanding research work
Loewi qualified as a university lecturer at the young age of 27 at the department of pharmacology in Marburg (Germany) with a thesis which showed that, contrary to what was believed at the time, the animal organism is capable of independently synthesising proteins from amino acids.
In 1905, he accompanied H. H. Mayer, who had supported his research in Marburg, to Vienna to become his assistant. In accordance with the customs of the time, this meant that Loewi became an Austrian citizen.
Two years later, Loewi met Guida Goldschmidt in Vienna and married her a year later.
Loewi moved to Graz in 1909, when he accepted the chair of pharmacology at the University of Graz. In 1912/13 he also served as the dean of the faculty of medicine. Two of his most famous research projects during this decade were the studies „On an increase in adrenaline production caused by cocaine“ and „On the relationship between digitalis and the effect of calcium“. Both these studies were far ahead of their time and therefore could not be continued until decades later.
Bereits mit 27 Jahren habilitierte Loewi am Pharmakologischen Institut in Marburg (Deutschland) mit einer Arbeit, die den Beweis dafür erbrachte, dass der tierische Organismus entgegen den damaligen Ansichten selbst in der Lage sei, Proteine aus Aminosäuren aufzubauen. 1905 folgte er schließlich H. H. Mayer, der ihn in Marburg bei seinen Forschungen unterstützt hatte, nach Wien, um dort sein Assistent zu werden. Damit wurde Loewi nach damaligem Usus auch österreichischer Staatsbürger. Zwei Jahre nach seinem Umzug lernte der Wissenschafter in der Bundeshauptstadt Guida Goldschmidt kennen, die er ein Jahr später heiratete. Nach Graz kam Loewi im Jahre 1909, als er auf den Pharmakologischen Lehrstuhl der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz berufen wurde. In den Jahren 1912/13 war er auch gewählter Dekan der Medizinischen Fakultät. Zu seinen wohl bekanntesten Forschungen dieser Dekade zählen die Untersuchungen "Über eine Steigerung der Adrenalinfreisetzung durch Kokain" und "Über den Zusammenhang von Digitalis und Calziumwirkung", die ihrer Zeit lange voraus waren und deshalb auch erst Jahrzehnte später weitergeführt werden konnten.
Nobel Prize
Although undoubtedly impressive, these papers were not the most significant of his studies. It was his work on the transmission of nerve impulses to organs which earned Loewi, together with Sir Henry Dale, the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine in 1936.
Emigration
However, all his successes and achievements in science did not prevent Loewi’s being arrested as a Jew shortly afterwards. He was permitted to leave the country on condition that he left all his property behind.
Initially, Loewi went to London. In 1940, he became Research Professor of Pharmacology at New York University. In 1941, he became an American citizen.
Loewi died in New York at the age of 88. After his flight from Austria, Loewi only returned to Europe on one occasion: in 1958, when he acted as the president of the 4th International Congress of Biochemistry in Vienna.