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Schmidt, Gerhard

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1901 -- 2002 - 2002

Biography

Abstract:

Born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1901, Gerhard Schmidt studied medicine at the universities of Tübingen and Frankfurt working in the laboratory of Dr. Gustav Emden and later trained in research with Emden. He became a Privatdozent (i.e. private lecturer) in the Department of Pathology at the University of Frankfurt, but had to flee Germany in March 1933 after the National Socialists came to power. He began to work at the New England Medical Center and at Tufts College in 1940 and remained there until retirement. Dr. Schmidt pioneered work on enzymes involved in nucleic acid degradation and was a world authority in the field of nucleic acids and phospholipids. He was elected member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1973. He died in 1981.

Dr. Gerhard Schmidt was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1901. He studied medicine at the universities of Tübingen and Frankfurt, where he obtained a medical degree in 1924. During his studies, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Gustav Emden, one of the outstanding biochemist of the first half of the 20th century. Schmidt completed a medical internship in Stuttgart, and then returned to Frankfurt to train in research with Emden. He became a Privatdozent in the Department of Pathology at the University of Frankfurt, but had to flee Germany in March 1933 after the National Socialists came to power. Schmidt subsequently held fellowships in Italy, Sweden, Canada, and the US. He was brought to the New England Medical Center and Tufts College in 1940 by Dr. Siegfried Thannhauser, a distinguished research physician who was himself a refugee. Schmidt spent the rest of his career at Tufts.Dr. Schmidt pioneered work on enzymes involved in nucleic acid degradation and was a world authority in the field of nucleic acids and phospholipid. He was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences in 1973. He died April 21, 1981. In 2002, Dr. Henry Mautner, chairman of the Department of Biochemistry, established an annual lectureship in his memory.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Gerhard Schmidt Oral Histories

 Collection
Call Number: MS161
Scope and Contents This collection consists of interviews conducted by Dr. Morris Cynkin with Gerhard Schmidt in the early 1970s. The original interviews are on audiocassettes. The collection also includes transcriptions of some of the tapes and mp3 files of the interviews. The interviews concern Schmidt’s early interest in medicine, his experience of antisemitism during the rise of National Socialism, his career after fleeing Germany in 1933, and his subsequent fellowships in Italy, Sweden, Canada, and the...
Dates: Majority of material found within 1971 -- 1973; 1971 -- 2009
Found in: Tufts Archival Research Center