This article revisits the life and times of Otto Krayer, a gifted scientist, teacher and administrator. His unique contributions to the discipline of pharmacology and to the biomedical sciences are chronicled in the wake of the political upheaval that crippled German science during the 1930s. The anti-scientific attitude that pervaded Germany at the time led to the exile of Krayer and many other eminent scientists. Their fate is recounted, as well as the negative impact on science caused by a National Socialist regime that blatantly disregarded basic scientific principles. The threat of intolerance and unethical behaviour still remains a key obstacle to scientific creativity.
A portion of this overview is based on detailed accounts of Krayer’s life and career in: Goldstein A. Otto Krayer 1899–1982. Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 1987; 57: 150–225.
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KrayerO. Die pharmaokologischen Eigerschaften des reinen Apokodeins. Archives Experimental. Pathologie and Pharmakologie1926; 111: 60–67.
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GoldsteinA. Otto Krayer 1899–1982. Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences1987; 57: 151–156.
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References to this work can be found in Goldstein A. Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 1987; 57: 215–216.
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Goldstein A. Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 1987; 57: 189–191.
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MarshallEKJr. Reid Hunt. 1870–1948. Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences1951; 57: 25–41.
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A comprehensive overview of the fate of non-Aryan pharmacologists is provided in Loffelholz K. The persecution of pharmacologists in Nazi Germany and Austria. Naunyn Schmiedeberg’s Archives of Pharmacology 2011; 383: 217–225. Additional information on this topic may also be found in Medawar J and Pyke D. Hitlter’s gift: The true story of the scientists expelled by the Nazi regime. New York: Arcade Publishing Inc., 2000.
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A comprehensive treatment of this topic is provided by Deichmann U. Biologists under Hitler. Harvard University Press: Cambridge Massachusetts, 1996, pp.10–58.
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Medawar J and Pyke D. Hitler’s gift. 2000, pp.97–130.
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PykeD. Contributions by German emigres to British medical science. Quarterly Journal of Medicine2000; 93: 487–495.
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BissetGWBlissTVP. Wilhelm Sigmund Feldberg CBE. 19 November 1900–23 October 1993. Biographical Memoirs of the Royal Society1997; 57: 145–170.
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Selected articles authored by Feldberg and Dale are provided in: Dale HH. Adventures in physiology; with excursions into autopharmacology. The Wellcome Trust: London, UK, 1953, pp.546–610.
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Schild HO. Drug antagonism and pAx. Pharmacological Reviews 1957; 9: 242–246. Arunlakshama O and Schild HO. Some quantitative uses of drug antagonists. British Journal of Pharmacology 1959; 14: 48–58.
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Ref. 11, pp.100–123.
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However, there is profound irony in the fact that the development of nitrogen mustard as a war gas paved the way for the era of cancer chemotherapy when the lympholytic effects of nitrogen mustards were demonstrated by Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman during a wartime study. Curtis J. From the field of battle, an early strike at cancer. Yale Medicine 2005; (capsule) http://yalemedicine.yale.edu/ym_su05/capsule.html (accessed 23 May 2013).
CuthbertAW. Martha Louise Vogt. 8 September 1903–9 September 2003. Biographical Memoirs of the Royal Society2005; 51: 409–423.
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The paper by Dale, Feldberg and Vogt published in the Journal of Physiology 1936; 86: 353–380 confirmed that the mode of transmission of nerve impulses across the nerve–muscle synapse was a chemical rather than an electrical event and that acetylcholine was the chemical transmitter.
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Rubin RP. A brief history of great discoveries in pharmacology. Pharmacological Reviews 2007; 59: 315–318.
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King WJ. New Light on Carl von Ossietzky, German Life and Letters 1990; 43: 203–217.
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Goldstein A. Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 1987; 57: 192–193.
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A complete list of scientists, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students who were trained by or collaborated with Otto Krayer is provided in Goldstein A. Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 1987; 57: 204–206.
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BarrettJE. Behavioral determinants of drug action: The contributions of Peter B Dews. Journal of Experimental Analytical Behavior2006; 86: 359–370.
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Kandel E. An introduction to the work of David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel. Journal of Physiology (London) 2009; 587: 2733–2741 (Jp-physoc.org/content/587/12/2733) (accessed 28 August 2012).
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Starke K. In Memorium: Ullrich George Trendeleburg (31 December 1922 to 21 November 2006). Naunyn-Schmiedeberg’s Archives of Pharmacology 2007; 375: 231–240.
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MatteoHS. Medical mission in Germany. Information Bulletin1945, pp. 12–15.
In 2009 a publication by the Harvard Medical School lauded the assimilation of pharmacology with biological chemistry by noting that ‘The evolution of the program from that of a small department [sic. pharmacology] to one with myriad interdepartmental interactions resulted in a broader intellectual and experimental base for training in pharmacological sciences …’ http://www.hms.harvard.edu/dms/bbs/PharmSci/About.html (accessed 19 July 2012).
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Trendelenburg U. Remembrances. Otto Krayer. Life Sciences 1978; 22: 1113–1114. Otto Krayer’s papers can be found in the Francis A Countway Library of Medicine, Center for the History of Medicine at the Harvard University Medical Library; http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/∼med00150 (accessed 13 July 2012). Updates of Collections in the Countway Library have also recently become available which encompass the Otto Krayer papers, 1917–1982 (inclusive), 1946–1968 (bulk) and the Records of the Department of Pharmacology, 1938–1974 (inclusive). These updates are listed under posts tagged: Paul Dudley White, https://cms.www.countway.harvard.edu/wp/?tag=paul-dudley-white (accessed 23 December 2012).
