Otto Heinrich Warburg was born inFreiburg im Breisgau in 1883, close to the Swiss border. Otto's mother was the daughter of a Protestant family of bankers and civil servants fromBaden. His father,Emil Warburg, had converted to Protestantism as an adult, although Emil's parents wereOrthodox Jews.[4] Emil was a member of the illustriousWarburg family ofAltona. Emil was also president of thePhysikalische Reichsanstalt, Wirklicher Geheimer Oberregierungsrat (True Senior Privy Counselor).
Otto Warburg studied chemistry underEmil Fischer, and earned his doctorate in chemistry inBerlin in 1906. He then studied underLudolf von Krehl and earned the degree of doctor of medicine inHeidelberg in 1911.[5]
Between 1908 and 1914, Warburg was affiliated with theNaples Marine Biological Station, (inNaples, Italy), where he conducted research. In later years, he would return for visits, and maintained a lifelong friendship with the family of the station's director,Anton Dohrn.
A lifelong equestrian, he served as an officer in the eliteUhlans (cavalry) on the front during theFirst World War, where he won theIron Cross. Warburg later credited this experience with affording him invaluable insights into "real life" outside the confines of academia. Toward the end of the war, when the outcome was unmistakable,Albert Einstein, who had been a friend of Warburg's father Emil, wrote to Warburg at the behest of friends, asking him to leave the army and return to academia, since it would be a tragedy for the world to lose his talents. Einstein and Warburg later became friends, and Einstein's work in physics had a great influence on Warburg's biochemical research.[citation needed]
While working at the Marine Biological Station, Warburg performed research on oxygen consumption insea urchin eggs afterfertilization and showed that upon fertilization the rate of respiration increases as much as sixfold. His experiments also showed that iron is essential for the development of the larval stage.
Warburg investigated the metabolism oftumors and therespiration of cells, particularly cancer cells, and in 1931 was awarded theNobel Prize in Physiology for his "discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme".[1] In particular, he discovered that animal tumors produce large quantities oflactic acid.[6] 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.[3]
The Nobel laureateGeorge Wald, having completed his Ph.D. in zoology at Columbia University, received an award from the U.S. National Research Council to study with Warburg. During his time with Warburg, 1932–1933, Wald discoveredvitamin A in theretina.
When the Nazis came to power, people of Jewish descent were forced from their professional positions, although the Nazis made exceptions. Warburg had a Protestant mother and a father with Jewish heritage (who had converted to Protestantism).[7] According to the Reichsbürgergesetz from 1935 (cf.Nuremberg Laws) Warburg, as a "half-Jew" was labeled a Halbjude orMischling.[8]
Warburg was also at risk due to his relationship with Jacob Heiss, with whom he lived and worked.[9] Beginning around 1918, Heiss served variously as Warburg's personal aid, secretary, and administrative assistant.[10]The couple lived together in an elegant villa in Dahlem, in Berlin.[9][11][12]
Warburg was banned from teaching, but allowed to carry on his research.[7]In 1941, Warburg briefly lost his post for making remarks critical of the Nazi regime, but in a few weeks was able to resume his research following a personal order from Hitler's Chancellery.Hermann Göring also arranged for him to be classified as one-quarter Jewish.[7]In September 1942, Warburg made an official request for equal status ("Gleichstellung") withGerman Aryans, which was granted.[8]
The Nazis were willing to allow Warburg to work because of his focus on metabolism and cancer. Hitler was obsessed with cancer, having lost his own mother tobreast cancer at an early age.[9][12][13] The decisive factor was Warburg's distinguished military service in the Great War, as Jewish veterans were often exempted from the loss of citizenship mandated by the Nuremberg laws. Warburg's Germanic physiognomy may also have weighed in his favor, as Hitler's Chancellery is known to have factored in eye color and face shape when evaluating Aryanization applications.[14]
Warburg disagreed with the Nazi regime, and refused to acknowledge the Nazi salute, to the point of provoking retaliation from its officers. Authors have speculated on why he stayed in Germany under the Reich. Apple suggests that, like many others, he did not imagine how bad things could get. His own egotism may have led him to underestimate the potential threat posed by the Nazis.[9] Others have suggested that Warburg was so totally devoted to his work that he was prepared not only to stay in Germany but to tolerate the treatment of his Jewish colleagues and relatives by the Nazis.[15] An anecdote fromBirgit Vennesland, who became a director at Warburg's institute in West Berlin in 1968, is suggestive. She said that Warburg's advice for an acquaintance who was experiencing emotional difficulties was "Tell him not to think about anything but science—think about absolutely nothing else—only science."[16]
In 1943 Warburg relocated his laboratory to the village of Liebenburg on the outskirts of Berlin to avoid ongoing air raids.[citation needed]The Rockefeller Foundation reportedly offered to continue funding his work if he emigrated. After the war ended, Warburg inquiried about the prospect of moving to the United States, but was turned down.[citation needed]
Dr. Otto Warburg (extreme left) at the National Institute of Health, USA
In 1944, Warburg was nominated for a second Nobel Prize in Physiology byAlbert Szent-Györgyi, for his work onnicotinamide, the mechanism andenzymes involved in fermentation, and the discovery offlavin (inyellow enzymes).[17][18] Some sources report that he was selected to receive the award that year, but was prevented from receiving it byAdolf Hitler's regime, which had issued a decree in 1937 that forbade Germans from accepting Nobel Prizes.[19][20] According to the Nobel Foundation, this rumor is not true; although he was considered a worthy candidate, he was not selected for the prize at that time.[17]
Three scientists who worked in Warburg's lab, including SirHans Adolf Krebs, went on to win the Nobel Prize in future years. Among other discoveries, Krebs is credited with the identification of thecitric acid cycle (or Szent-Györgyi-Krebs cycle).
Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. Summarized in a few words, the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar.
A recent reevaluation of the data from nuclear/cytoplasm transfer experiments, where nuclei from cancer cells are placed in normal cytoplasm and where nuclei from normal cells are placed in cancer cytoplasm, support the role of metabolism in cancer and themitochondria in aiding tumor suppression.[25][26] Still, as evident from the references therein, this promising phenomenon still fails to explain the origin of cancer as Warburg originally proposed. While Warburg's hypothesis certainly inspired the scientific community to further investigate the field of cancer metabolism, his tendency to oversimplify[27] perhaps prevented him from accepting the vastly complex role and interactions between both the mitochondria andnucleus, or more generally, metabolism and mutations.[28][29][30][31]
Otto Warburg edited and had much of his original work published inThe Metabolism of Tumours (tr. 1931) and wroteNew Methods of Cell Physiology (1962). An unabashedanglophile, Otto Warburg was thrilled whenOxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate.[citation needed] He was awarded the OrderPour le Mérite in 1952 and was known to tell other universities not to bother with honorary doctorates. He would ask officials to mail him medals he had been awarded so as to avoid a ceremony that would separate him from his beloved laboratory.[citation needed]
When frustrated by the lack of acceptance of his ideas, Warburg was known to quote an aphorism he attributed toMax Planck: "Science advances one funeral at a time".[32][33]
Seemingly utterly convinced of the accuracy of his conclusions, Warburg expressed dismay at the "continual discovery of cancer agents and cancer viruses" that he expected to "hinder necessary preventive measures and thereby become responsible for cancer cases".[23]
WhenJosef Issels was tried and convicted for promoting theIssels treatment, an ineffective regimen claimed to treat cancer, Warburg offered to testify on Issels' behalf at his appeal to the German Supreme Court. All of Issels' convictions were overturned.[34]
TheOtto Warburg Medal is intended to commemorate Warburg's outstanding achievements. It has been awarded by the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie) since 1963. The prize honors and encourages pioneering achievements in fundamental biochemical and molecular biological research. The Otto Warburg Medal is regarded as the highest award in Germany for biochemists and molecular biologists. It has been endowed with prize money, sponsored by the publishing company Elsevier/BBA.[36]
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, Proceedings of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin, mathematical-scientific ?, Berlin 1947)
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
Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1922-1941,Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Company, 1965
Chernow, Ron (1993),The Warburgs: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family, New York, NY: Random House,ISBN978-0-679-41823-8
Govindjee, Kärin Nickelsen (2011).The maximum quantum yield controversy. Otto Warburg and the 'Midwest-Gang' (Paperback). Institut Für Philosophie.ISBN978-3-95234-219-0.
Issels MD, Josef (1981),Mein Kampf gegen den Krebs: Erinnerungen eines Arztes, C. Bertelsmann,ISBN978-3-570-04736-1
Krebs, Hans Adolf (1981),Otto Warburg: Cell Physiologist, Biochemist, and Eccentric, Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0-19-858171-0
Medawar, Jean; Pyke, David (2012).Hitler's Gift: The True Story of the Scientists Expelled by the Nazi Regime (Paperback). New York: Arcade Publishing.ISBN978-1-61145-709-4.
^abReinhard Rürup, unter Mitwirkung von Michael Schüring: Schicksale und Karrieren: Gedenkbuch für die von den Nationalsozialisten aus der Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft vertriebenen Forscherinnen und Forscher. Wallstein 2008, S. 83f.ISBN978-3-89244-797-9
.jpg)
.jpg)
