Julius Pohl (1 November 1861 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

– 27 September 1942 in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel) was an Austrian-German

pharmacologist Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemic ...

. From 1879 to 1883 he studied medicine at the German University in Prague, where afterwards he worked as an assistant to

Franz Hofmeister Franz Hofmeister (30 August 1850, in Prague – 26 July 1922, in Würzburg) was an early protein scientist, and is famous for his studies of salts that influence the solubility and conformational stability of proteins. In 1902, Hofmeister becam ...

in the pharmacology institute. In 1892 he received his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...

for pharmacology and

pharmacognosy Pharmacognosy is the study of medicinal plants and other natural substances as sources of drugs. The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines pharmacognosy as "the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical, and biological properties of drug ...

, and three years later became an associate professor. In 1897 he succeeded Hofmeister as chair of pharmacology at the university. In 1911 he relocated to the

University of Breslau A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

as successor to

Wilhelm Filehne Wilhelm Filehne (12 February 1844, in Posen – 29 April 1927, in Bensheim) was a German pharmacologist, who specialized in research of antipyretic drugs. He studied medicine at the universities of Heidelberg and Berlin, where his instructors in ...

. In 1926 he became a member of the

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: link=no, Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saal ...

. His work included studies on serum proteins, the action of

bromoacetic acid Bromoacetic acid is the chemical compound with the formula CH2BrCO2H. This colorless solid is a relatively strong alkylating agent. Bromoacetic acid and its esters are widely used building blocks in organic synthesis, for example, in pharmaceut ...

on muscle, the toxicity of

chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane, is an organic compound with formula C H Cl3 and a common organic solvent. It is a colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to PTFE. It is also a precursor to various re ...

, and the metabolic

oxidation Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a ...

of alcohols and

fatty acid In chemistry, particularly in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, ...

s.Contrasts in scientific style : research groups in the chemical and biochemical sciences
Archiv.org In 1891 he isolated the compound

aristolochin Aristolochic acids () are a family of carcinogenic, mutagenic, and nephrotoxic phytochemicals commonly found in the flowering plant family Aristolochiaceae (birthworts). Aristolochic acid (AA) I is the most abundant one. The family Aristolochiace ...

from ''

Aristolochia clematitis ''Aristolochia clematitis'', the (European) birthwort, is a twining herbaceous plant in the family Aristolochiaceae, which is native to Europe. The leaves are heart shaped and the flowers are pale yellow and tubular in form. The plant seeks ligh ...

''.

Selected publications

* ''Ueber das Aristolochin, einen giftigen Bestandtheil der Aristolochia-Arten'', 1891 – On aristolochin, a toxic component of ''

Aristolochia ''Aristolochia'' () is a large plant genus with over 500 species that is the type genus of the family Aristolochiaceae. Its members are commonly known as birthwort, pipevine or Dutchman's pipe and are widespread and occur in the most diverse clima ...

'' species. * ''Ueber die Oxydation des Methyl- und Aethylalcohols im Thierkorper'', 1893 – On the oxidation of methyl and ethyl alcohols in the animal body. * ''Ueber den oxydativen Abbau der Fettkörper im thierischen Organismus'', 1896 – On oxidative reduction of fat in the animal organism. * ''Franz Hofmeister'', sein Leben und Wirken, 1923 – Franz Hofmeister, his life and work. With

Emil Starkenstein Emil Starkenstein (December 18, 1884 – November 6, 1942) was a Czech-Jewish pharmacologist and one of the founders of clinical pharmacology. He was killed in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp along with a few hundred refugees from Amsterda ...

and Eugen Rost, he was co-author of ''Toxikologie'' ("

Toxicology Toxicology is a scientific 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 diagnosing and treating expos ...

", 1929).Toxikologie von Starkenstein
ZVAB.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pohl, Julius 1861 births 1942 deaths People from Prague in health professions Charles University alumni Academic staff of Charles University Academic staff of the University of Breslau German pharmacologists Austrian pharmacologists