Shmidt, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich
Shmidt, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich
(also Alexander Schmidt). Born May 15 (27), 1831, on the island of Mukhu; died Apr. 10 (22), 1894, in the city of Iur’ev, now Tartu. Russian physiologist.
Shmidt graduated from the University of Dorpat in 1858 and began teaching there in 1862, becoming a professor of physiology in 1869. From 1876 to 1879 he served as dean of the university’s medical faculty and from 1885 to 1890, as the university’s rector. Shmidt’s works dealt mainly with hematology, for example, respiratory functions of the blood and oxidative processes. Shmidt devoted considerable attention to blood coagulation and formulated the enzymatic theory of blood coagulation, investigating the function of leukocytes, cellular proteins, and other substances involved in the process. He isolated thrombin from blood serum.
WORKS
Zur Blutlehre. Leipzig, 1892.Weitere Beiträge zur Blutlehre. Wiesbaden, 1895.
REFERENCE
“Alexander Schmidt.” Berliner klinische Wochenschrift, 1894, no. 19, pp.461–62.Shmidt, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich
(in Latvian, Aleksandrs Šmidts). Born Mar. 6 (18), 1892, in Zebrene District, in what is now Dobele Raion, Latvian SSR. Soviet biochemist. Academician of the Latvian Academy of Sciences (1946) and corresponding member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (I960). Member of the CPSU from 1950.
Shmidt graduated from the Petrograd Military Medical Academy in 1922 and was an assistant there from 1925 to 1935. From 1936 to 1945 he was a professor and chairman of the biochemistry department of the Second Leningrad Medical Institute and, at the same time, served as director of the All-Union Scientific Research Vitamin Institute. From 1945 to 1950 he was a professor at the Latvian University, and from 1950 to 1972, at the Riga Medical Institute. From 1946 to 1952 he served as academician-secretary of the division of agricultural, biological, and medical sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR. From 1952 to 1954 he was chief of the metabolism and nutrition section of the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR. In 1972 he became head of a department in the Riga Medical Institute.
Shmidt has worked mainly on the biochemistry and technology of protein and vitamin concentrates, insulin, and various vitamins, including ascorbic acid, and on the biochemistry of parenteral feeding in humans.
Shmidt received the State Prize of the USSR in 1951. He has been awarded three Orders of Lenin, three other orders, and various medals.