- Paul Morawitz
Paul Oskar Morawitz (
1879-04-03 inSt. Petersburg -1936-07-01 ) was a German internist and physiologist whose most important work was in studying thecoagulation ofblood .He was born to August Morawitz (1837-1897) and Charlotte Morawitz "née" Bergholz (1858-1939). He married Erna Arnold (1890-1979).
After completing his medical studies at
Leipzig (in 1901) he completed his army service, then joined DrLudolf von Krehl inTübingen as an assistant physician. Krehl inspired Morawitz in his studies of blood-related pathology. In 1907 he completed a disseration on blood circulation (for hisHabilitation ), and he was appointed in the same year as chief clinician of the University clinic at Freiburg im Breisgau. He progressed to become the "Ordinarius" and Director of the Medical inpatients atGreifswald in 1913, and in 1921 he took up a position inWürzburg . Finally, in 1926, he assumed the chair of Medicine inLeipzig . He died aged 57 of a heart attack.Boulton F. A hundred years of cascading - started by Paul Morawitz (1879-1936), a pioneer of haemostasis and transfusion. "Transfus Med" 2006;16:1-10. PMID 16480434.]Morawitz was a pioneer in the study of coagulation, and a 1905 landmark paper [Morawitz P. Die Chemie der Blutgerinnung. "Ergebn Physiol" 1905;4:307-422.] is still regarded as a springboard for further study of the physiology of blood; he perfected observations made earlier by Alexander Schmidt and described four coagulation factors:
fibrinogen (I),prothrombin (II), thrombokinase (III) and calcium (IV). He also pioneeredblood transfusion , initially without the benefit of blood typing, and studied angina and the use ofquinidine as an antiarrhythmic. He established ablood bank inLeipzig .He is commemorated by the annual "Paul Morawitz prize" by the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kardiologie" (German Cardiological Association). [Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kardiologie. [http://www.dgk.org/ps/PreiseStipendien.aspx?PreisID=12&subnavi=2 Paul-Morawitz-Preis] (description and recipients). Accessed
2006-09-14 .]References
External links
* [http://www.uni-leipzig.de/campus2009/jubilaeen/2004/morawitz.html Full biography] at the
University of Leipzig
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