Franz Halberg (July 5, 1919 – June 9, 2013 ) was a

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

and one of the founders of modern

chronobiology Chronobiology is a field of biology that examines timing processes, including periodic (cyclic) phenomena in living organisms, such as their adaptation to solar- and lunar-related rhythms. These cycles are known as biological rhythms. Chron ...

. He first began his experiments in the 1940s and later founded the Chronobiology Laboratories at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. Halberg published many papers also in the serials of the History Commission of International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy. He also published in "Wege zur Wissenschaft, Pathways to Science". He was a member of many international bodies, was awarded five honorary doctorates and was a member of the Leibniz Sozietät der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. In the 1950s, he introduced the word

circadian A circadian rhythm (), or circadian cycle, is a natural oscillation that repeats roughly every 24 hours. Circadian rhythms can refer to any process that originates within an organism (i.e., endogenous) and responds to the environment (is entrai ...

, which derives from the Latin about (''circa'') a day (''diem'').

Nominations for the Nobel Prize

Halberg was nominated several times for the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

in Physiology or Medicine. In 1988, and again in 1989, upon invitation by Professor Björn Nordenström of the

Karolinska Institute The Karolinska Institute (KI; ; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally ...

in Sweden, then a member of the Nobel committee, Germaine Cornelissen, close associate of Halberg, nominated Halberg for the prize, highlighting the different ingredients contributed by Franz in developing the discipline of chronobiology. Nordenström had come to the

to give a major lecture and accepted Halberg's invitation to come and visit his laboratory. The invitation was extended upon Nordenström's return to Sweden, at the Minneapolis airport where Halberg and Cornelissen had accompanied him to continue discussions of work of mutual interest. After Nordenström left the committee, Halberg's dossier assembled by Cornelissen was handed over to Dr. Dora K. Hayes of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who had a colleague eligible to make nominations.Fernholm B., Bremer K., Jörnvall H. (eds.). The Hierarchy of Life: Molecules and Morphology in Phylogenetic Analysis. Proc. Nobel Symposium 70, Alfred Nobel's Björkborn, Karlskoga, Sweden, August 29-September 2, 1988. International Congress Series, Nr. 824. Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam, 1989, 499 pp.

References

External links

Halberg Chronobiology Center
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halberg, Franz 2013 deaths Sleep researchers 1919 births American chronobiologists University of Minnesota faculty Romanian emigrants to the United States Harvard Medical School people