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Notable and Anniversary Dates in Biochemistry for 1998

N. P. Voskresenskaya and V. Ya. Shelagina, Compilers

Department of History of Medicine and Public Health, Semashko Institute of Social Hygiene, Economics, and Public Health Administration, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, ul. Obukha 12, Moscow, 103064 Russia.


500th anniversary of Ricettario Florentino, the first official pharmacopoeia (Florence, 1498).

250th anniversary of the law of conservation of matter (mass) in chemical reactions (M. V. Lomonosov, 1748).

250th anniversary of the first Russian chemical research laboratory at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (M. V. Lomonosov, 1748).

200th anniversary of De Narcoticorum Remediorum Virtute (On the Properties of Narcotic Remedies, A. Kondura, 1798).

150th anniversary of the description of the proteinaceous substance detectable in urea in some pathological conditions (Bence-Jones protein; H. Bence-Jones, 1848).

150th anniversary of the discovery of glycolytic function of liver (C. Bernard, 1848).

150th anniversary of the isolation of alkaloid papaverine from opium (G. Merck, 1848).

150th anniversary of On Prussic Acid and the Most Common Preparations Containing It in Their Compositions (A. Minder, 1848).

100th anniversary of the synthesis of the alkaloid theobromine (1898).

100th anniversary of the first isolation of rennin (R. Tigerstedt, P. Bergman, 1898).

100th anniversary of the description of a color reaction developed after addition of potassium hydroxide to the cultures of certain representatives of Escherichia in liquid medium, the Voges--Proskauer reaction (O. Voges, B. Proskauer, 1898).

100th anniversary of Bacteriolysins -- the Enzymes Destroying Bacteria (N. F. Gamaleya, 1898).

75th anniversary of the formulation of the diketopiperazine theory of protein structure (N. D. Zelinskii, 1923).

75th anniversary of the first USSR laboratory preparation of insulin and the beginning of its application in therapy of certain medical diseases (V. M. Kogan-Yasnyi, 1923).

75th anniversary of the suggestion of synthetic growth medium for culture of tuberculous mycobacteria--Model medium (L. M. Model, 1923).

75th anniversary of the finding that the Golgi apparatus is involved in formation of secretory vesicles (D. N. Nasonov, 1923).

75th anniversary of the first formulation of the theory of chemical transduction of excitation in synapses of peripheral vegetative nervous system (A. F. Samoilov, 1923).

75th anniversary of the isolation of an active preparation of follicular hormone (E. V. Allen, E. A. Doisy, 1923).

75th anniversary of the test for vital staining of amyloid in tissues with congo red--Bennhold test (H. Bennhold, 1923).

75th anniversary of the blister test (W. B. McClure, Th. B. Aldrich, 1923).

75th anniversary of the method of preparation of anatoxin for immunization against diphtheria (G. Ramon, 1923).

75th anniversary of the development of nephelometric method to analyze protein fractions in blood serum (I. Rusznyak, 1923).

75th anniversary of the physicochemical theory of inflammation (H. Schade, 1923).

75th anniversary of the construction of an ultracentrifuge for medicinal purposes (T. Svedberg, 1922-1923).

75th anniversary of the investigation of respiration and glycolysis in tissue sections (O. Warburg, 1923).

75th anniversary of Principles of Pharmacology and Toxicology (D. M. Lavrov, 1923).

75th anniversary of Chemical-Pharmaceutical Journal (Moscow, 1923-1930, 1967 - present).

50th anniversary of the synthesis of dibazol preparation (S. V. Anichkov et al., 1948).

50th anniversary of the demonstration of involvement of intestinal secretins in the regulation of the second stage of gastric juice secretion (I. P. Razenkov, 1948).

50th anniversary of the chemical analysis of estrone (G. Anner, K. Miescher, 1948).

50th anniversary of the evidence of the syndrome of thrombocytodystrophy that is characterized by defective thrombin function and the presence of giant thrombocytes (J. Bernard, J. P. Soulier, 1948).

50th anniversary of the preparation of antibiotic aureomycin (B. Daggar, 1948).

50th anniversary of the skin test with toxoplasmin (J. K. Frenkel, 1948).

50th anniversary of the first phage gene map (A. D. Hershey, R. Rotman, 1948-1949).

50th anniversary of the demonstration that mitochondria are the centers of cell respiration (D. Hogeboom, 1948).

50th anniversary of the discovery of vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) (E. L. Smith, E. L. Rickes, 1948).

50th anniversary of the investigation of the role of tissue respiration enzymes in development of hypoxia (O. Warburg, 1948).

February 15 - 125th anniversary of the birth of H. Euler-Chelpin (1873-1864), Swedish biochemist, Foreign Member of Academy of Sciences of USSR (1927), Member of Royal Academy of Sciences of Sweden. The majority of his works were devoted to investigation of various biochemical processes. He studied the kinetics and found the mechanism of sugar fermentation. He noticed that chemical reactions in live organisms are accelerated by enzymes and suggested that this phenomenon be called biocatalysis. He studied the structure and the mechanism of vitamin A action (together with P. Correr) and has demonstrated that beta-carotene is a precursor of vitamin A, and the latter is an essential component of visual pigment. He made a considerable contribution to the studies on biochemistry of tumors. He was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize (jointly with A. Gardner). Bibliography and literature: see Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

February 16 - 150th anniversary of the birth of Hugo De Vries (1948-1935), Dutch botanist. In 1900, at the same time as K. Correns and E. Tschermak, he repeated the discovery of the laws of inheritance of characters previously formulated by G. Mendel. Based on his many-year observations over the variability of Oenothera, he formulated the theory of mutations. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

March 1 - 90th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Davydovich Mashkovskii (1908, born in Pinsk of the Minsk region), Russian pharmacologist, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. He guided the development of about 200 medical preparations, including analgetics, ganglioblockers, neurotropic, curaremimetic, antihypertensive, and other medicines, promedol, and also new psychotropic drugs and highly effective antidepressants--azaphen, pyrazidole, incazan, etc. Bibliography: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Pharmacology of Antidepressants (with co-authors) (1983) Meditsina, Moscow; Medical Preparations (1996) 13th Ed., Pts. 1 and 2, Moscow. Literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Mashkovskii, M. D. (1988) Khim.-Farm. Zh., No. 2, 127; (1988) Farmakol. Toksikol., No. 2, 113-115.

March 3 - 80th anniversary of the birth of Arthur Kornberg (1918), American biochemist. He isolated and investigated the enzyme known as DNA-polymerase of Kornberg. Using a native DNA as the primer, he developed the hypothesis of the mechanism of DNA replication in intact cells. He was awarded the 1959 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the mechanism of biosynthesis of nucleic acids. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Les Prix Nobel en 1959 (1960) Stockholm; Riedman, S. R., and Gustafson, E. T. (1963) Portraits of Nobel Laureates in Medicine and Physiology, London, New York.

March 26 - 100th anniversary of the death of Iohann George Noel Dragendorf (1836-1898, born in Rostok), Russian pharmaceutist. He was the first to propose the theory of correspondence between the chemical composition of plants and their position in a classification system. He was the author of a monumental work on the drug plants of the World flora containing information on 12,700 plants. Bibliography: Forensic-Chemical Finding of Poisons in Food Products, Air, Body Parts, etc. (1875) St. Petersburg; Die qualitative und quantitative Analyse von Pflanzen und Pflanzentheilen (1881) Gottingen; Die Helpflanzen der verschiedenen Volker und Zeiten, ihre Anwendung, vesentlichen Bestandteile und Geschichte (1898), Stuttgart. Literature: Iohann George Noel Dragendorf (1903) Biograph. Dictionary of Professors and Teachers of the University of Yur'ev (formerly Derpt), Yur'ev, Vol. 2, pp. 239-246; Kalinin, V. V. (1987) Hygiene and Protection of Environment, Abst. Conf., Tartu, pp. 202-210; Luik, B. R. (1986) Uspekhi Med. Nauki, Tartu, pp. 29-31; Salo, V. M. (1985) An Outstanding Figure in Russian Pharmacy, Fatmatsiya, No. 5, pp. 78-80.

April 13 - 125th anniversary of the death of Justus von Liebig (1803-1873), German chemist, professor. His works on the problems of nutrition include classification of nutrients, notes about the importance of the way of preparing food, and also recipes of milk soup for children and meat extract. He found in urea hippuric acid, creatinine, and tyrosine as the product of casein decomposition. His works on extractable substances of skeletal muscles are considered classical: he found inosinic acid in muscles, demonstrated the accumulation of lactic acid in working muscles, established the structures of creatine, creatinine, and sarcosine. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

June 3 - 125th anniversary of the birth of Otto Loewi (1873-1961), Austrian physiologist-pharmacologist. He was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize for the discovery of chemical transduction of nervous impulses (together with H. Dale). In 1908 he suggested (together with Cords) the reaction to adrenalin (long-lasting dilatation of pupil) as the sign of hyperexcitability of sympathetic nervous system--the symptom of Loewi. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

July 15 - 125th anniversary of the birth of Vasilii Vasil'evich Zav'yalov (1873-1930), Russian physiologist. His studies were devoted to the biochemistry of plastids (1903, 1907), blood analysis for hemophilia (1914), importance of mineral salts for nutrition of animals (1913), the structure of chondroitin sulfuric acid (1916), biochemistry of hormones (mainly insulin). He developed an organic preparation biotonin, clinical procedure for detection of uric acid in blood (1929), and the method of preparation of water-soluble benzoate. Literature: Mirskii, M. B. (1997) in The Russian Abroad: Gold Book of Emigration: Encycl. Biograph. Dictionary, Moscow, pp. 238-239.

July 18 - 75th anniversary of the death of Alexander Yakovlevich Danilevskii (1838-1923), Russian biochemist. The main of his studies were devoted to the chemistry of protein and proteolytic enzymes, and to the problems of nutrition. He performed the separation of pancreatic enzymes amylase and trypsin by having developed the method of selective adsorption. Bibliography and literature: see Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Shamin, A. N. (1966) Development of the Chemistry of Protein, Nauka, Moscow; Biography Reference Book (1984) Naukova Dumka, Kiev, p. 209.

August 13 - 80th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Sanger (1918), English biochemist, the head of the division of protein chemistry at Cambridge University (1951). He developed the method of analyzing protein amino acid sequence and was the first to establish the primary structure of insulin. He was awarded the 1958 Nobel Prize in chemistry. In 1980 he again was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the development of the method of analyzing DNA nucleotide sequence and establishing the DNA structure of phage phi X174. He is a member of London Royal Society (1954) and other scientific societies, and several academies. He was awarded many international prizes and awards. Bibliography and literature: see Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

September 10 - 100th anniversary of the birth of Petr Nikolaevich Grabar' (1898-1986), French immunologist, Russian by origin. His studies were devoted to the investigation of antigenic properties of bacterial toxins, their structure and composition. He proposed the theory of chemical action of ultrasound. He developed a new principle for separation of proteins known as immunoelectrophoresis. He first differentiated the lymphocytes from thymus (thymocytes) and those of other origin (with co-workers). He put forward the theory of "transport role of antibodies". He suggested high-sensitive and specific methods for diagnostics of certain cancers. He developed the approaches to preparation of antibodies with specified cytotoxic activity which may to be used to neutralize tumor cells. He was the founder and president of the French Society of Immunologists. Bibliography and literature: Mirskii, M. B. (1997) in The Russian Abroad: Gold Book of Emigration: Encycl. Biograph. Dictionary, Moscow, pp. 181-191.

December 4 - 90th anniversary of the birth of A. D. Hershey (1908), American virologist. He described the genetic recombination in phages (1946). He used the tracer method to demonstrate that the material carrier of bacteriophage inheritance is its DNA (1952). For the contribution to the development of present molecular biology and genetics he was awarded the Nobel Prize (in 1968, jointly with M. Delbruck and S. Luria). Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

300th anniversary of the death of Erasm Bartholin (1625-1698), Danish doctor and physicist. In 1669 he discovered the phenomenon of "double refraction": when a natural light beam enters an anisotropic medium, it splits in two beams propagating in this medium at different speeds. This phenomenon is widely used to investigate the shape of protein molecules and viruses. Bibliography: Erasmi Bartolini de naturae mirabilibus (1674) Questiones academica, Hafniae; De aere Hafniensi (1679) Francofurti; Versuche mit dem doppelt brechenden islanddischen Kristall (1922) Leipzig; Biograph. Lexikon der hervorrag Arzte (1929) Berlin, Wien, Bd. I; Ibid., (1935). Literature: Great Medical Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed., Vol. 8, p. 767; Meisen, V. (1932) Prominent Danish Scientists Through the Ages, p. 29.

250th anniversary of the birth of Afanasii Avvakumovich Kaverznev (1748 - the date of death is unknown), Russian biologist. In 1775 he published the thesis "On Regeneration of Animals" where he claimed that the variability in animals was determined only by direct influence of the environment. He believed that the most important factors were the changes in climate, food, temperature, etc., and also the taming of animals. This work remained forgotten till the 40s of the 20th century. Literature: Raikov, B. E. (1952) Russian Biologists-Evolutionists before Darwin: Materials on the History of Evolutionary Idea in Russia, Vol. 1, Moscow, Leningrad; Raikov, B. E. (1951) Predecessors of Darwin in Russia, Moscow, Leningrad.

150th anniversary of the death of I. J. Berzelius (1779-1848), Swedish naturalist, president of Stockholm Academy of Sciences. He discovered or obtained in free state many chemical elements, including thorium, titanium, and silicon. He introduced the present symbols for many chemical elements, established formulae for many substances, and with high accuracy for his time determined the atomic masses of many chemical elements. He was the honorary member of almost all European academies, including St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1820). Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition.