Evgenii Mikhailovich Kreps

Born Apr. 19 (May 1), 1899, in St. Petersburg. Soviet physiologist and biochemist. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1966; corresponding member, 1946). Hero of Socialist Labor (1969).

In 1923, Kreps graduated from the Military Medical Academy of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (now the S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy). He was a student of I. P. Pavlov and L. A. Orbeli. From 1923 to 1933 he was head of the physiology laboratory of the Murmansk Biological Station. From 1934 to 1937 he was a professor at Leningrad University. In 1935 he began to work at the I. P. Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1960 he became director of the I. M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and in 1967, academician-secretary of the Physiology Division of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. His main works deal with the comparative physiology and biochemistry of the nervous system and muscles and the respiratory function of blood. He established that the sympathetic nerves have a direct influence on metabolic processes in muscle. As a result of his study of the respiratory pigments and enzymes of the blood (mainly carbonic anhydrase), he developed (1941–45) a method for the early diagnosis of sepsis.

Investigating the problem of hypoxia, Kreps, in collaboration with engineers, designed new instruments—the oxyhemometer and oxyhemograph for determining continuously the degree of oxygen saturation of blood; these instruments are used in clinical practice and in aviation, underwater, and athletic medicine. He has performed research on the physiology of diving and has devoted a great deal of attention to the phosphorus and nitrogen cycles in seawater. While participating in arctic expeditions and three voyages of the expeditionary ships Vitiaz’ (1957–58 and 1959–60) and Akademik Kurchatov (1973), he studied the cycle of chemical substances in the ocean and the radioactivity of marine organisms and of the aquatic environment. Kreps has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, two other orders, and various medals.