Friedrich Moritz Erich Harnack (,

Dorpat Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

(now ) – 24 April 1915

Halle an der Saale Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (), is the second largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is the sixth-most populous city in the area of former East Germany after (East) Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Magdeburg as well as t ...

) was a

pharmacologist Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between ...

and

toxicologist Toxicology is a scientific discipline (academia), discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnos ...

from the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

of Baltic-German ethnicity. From 1869 he studied medicine at the

University of Dorpat The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

, receiving his doctorate in 1873 with the dissertation ''Zur Pathogenese und Therapie des Diabetes mellitus'' ("Pathogenesis and therapy regarding

diabetes mellitus Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained hyperglycemia, high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or th ...

"). From 1873 he worked as an assistant at the pharmacological institute of the

University of Straßburg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during t ...

, and in 1877 obtained his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

. In 1880 he became an associate professor of pharmacology and

physiological chemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

, where in 1889 he attained a full professorship. In 1891 he founded an institute of pharmacology at the university. He is remembered for his pharmacological studies of

physostigmine Physostigmine (also known as eserine from ''éséré'', the West African name for the Calabar bean) is a highly toxic parasympathomimetic alkaloid, specifically, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor. It occurs naturally in the Calabar bean and ...

and

apomorphine Apomorphine, sold under the brand name Apokyn among others, is a type of aporphine having activity as a non- selective dopamine agonist which activates both D2-like and, to a much lesser extent, D1-like receptors. It also acts as an antago ...

. He was the son of theologian

Theodosius Harnack Theodosius Andreas Harnack (; , St. Petersburg – , Dorpat (now )) was a Baltic German theology, theologian. A professor of Divinity, he started his career as a Privatdozent for church history and homiletics at the University of Dorpat (in wha ...

and the brother of theologian

Adolf von Harnack Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited ...

, mathematician

Carl Gustav Axel Harnack Carl Gustav Axel Harnack (, Dorpat (now ) – 3 April 1888, Dresden) was a Baltic German mathematician who contributed to potential theory. Harnack's inequality applied to harmonic functions. He also worked on the real algebraic geometry of pla ...

and literary historian Otto Harnack.

Selected works

* ''Die Bedeutung pharmakologischer Thatsachen für die Physiologie des Froschherzens'', 1881 – Pharmacological facts regarding physiology of the frog heart. * ''Lehrbuch der Arzneimittellehre und Arzneiverordnungslehre'', 1883 (based on ''Lehrbuch der Arzneimittellehre'' by Rudolf Buchheim). * ''Die Hauptthatsachen der Chemie'', 1887 – The primary facts of chemistry. * ''Die Dosen unserer officinellen und neu eingeführten Arzneimittel'', 1890 – Dosages of official and newly introduced medicines. * ''Die Bibel und die alkoholischen Getränke'', 1894 – The Bible and alcoholic beverages. * ''Vergiftungen durch Metalle, Metalloide, Kohlenstoffverbindungen, Pflanzenstoffe'', 1901 – Poisoning by metals, metalloids,

carbon compounds Carbon compounds are chemical substances containing carbon. More compounds of carbon exist than any other chemical element except for hydrogen. Organic carbon compounds are far more numerous than inorganic carbon compounds. In general bonds o ...

, plant substances. * ''Ueber die Vergiftung durch Speisekartoffeln'', 1904 – On the poisoning of potatoes. * ''Tierschutz und Vivisektion'', 1906 – Animal protection and vivisection. * ''Studien über Hautelektrizität und Hautmagnetismus des Menschen'', 1905. * ''Das Gift in der dramatischen Dichtung und in der antiken Literatur'', 1908 – Poison in dramatic poetry and ancient literature. * ''Pharmakologisches und Therapeutisches über die Maxquelle, die Arsenquelle des Bades Dürkheim'', 1912 – Pharmacological and therapeutic aspects of the Maxquelle, the

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

source at

Bad Dürkheim Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration. It is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim (district), Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and the site of the discovery of the element caesium, in 1860. Geogra ...

. * ''Die gerichtliche Medizin'', 1914 – On

forensic medicine Forensic medicine is a broad term used to describe a group of medical specialties which deal with the examination and diagnosis of individuals who have been injured by or who have died because of external or unnatural causes such as poisoning, assa ...

. * ''Arbeiten über das Physostignum und Calabarin'' (with L. Witkowski) – Works on

and

calabarine ''Physostigma venenosum'', the Calabar bean or ordeal bean, is a leguminous plant, Endemic to tropical Africa, with a seed poisonous to humans. It derives the first part of its scientific name from a curious beak-like appendage at the end of the ...

. * ''The effects of lead on the animal organism'' (English translation, 1960).Most widely held works by Erich Harnack
WorldCat Identities

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harnack, Erich 1852 births 1915 deaths Scientists from Tartu People from Kreis Dorpat Pharmacologists from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the German Empire University of Tartu alumni Academic staff of the University of Halle Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire