Edith Bülbring facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Edith Bülbring
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| Born | 27 December 1903 Bonn, Germany
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| Died | 5 July 1990 (aged 86) Oxford, England
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| Alma mater | University of Bonn University of Munich Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg |
| Known for | Studying smooth muscle and catecholamines |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Pharmacology |
Edith Bülbring (27 December 1903 – 5 July 1990) was an important British scientist. She studied how smooth muscles work in the body. These are muscles we don't control, like those in our stomach or blood vessels. Edith Bülbring was one of the first women to become a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK. She also became a professor of pharmacology at the University of Oxford from 1967 to 1971.
Edith was born in Bonn, Germany. Her father was a professor of English. She studied medicine at universities in Bonn, Munich, and Freiburg. She worked as a research assistant to a scientist named Ulrich Friedemann. When the Nazis came to power, many Jewish colleagues were fired. Edith was partly Jewish, and she was also dismissed from her job.
In 1933, Edith moved to England with her older sisters, Luci and Maud. She joined the lab of Joshua Harold Burn in London. When he moved to Oxford in 1938, she went with him. She worked as his assistant until 1946. After that, she started her own research. From 1950 until she retired in 1971, she led a successful research team. They explored the physiology (how things work) of smooth muscle. This was an area that had not been studied much before. In 1958, she was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Growing Up in Germany
Edith Bülbring was born in Bonn, Germany, on December 27, 1903. Her mother, Hortense Leonore, was from the Netherlands. Her father, Karl Bülbring, was a German professor. Edith was the youngest of four children. She had two older sisters, Luci and Maud, and a brother named Hans.
When she was six, Edith started learning to play the piano. She was very good at it. During World War I (1914–1918), Edith and her sisters went to live with their uncle in the Netherlands. Sadly, her brother Hans was a soldier and died in 1918. Even though she was a talented piano player, Edith decided to study medicine instead of music. This surprised her teacher.
University Studies
In 1923, Edith started studying at the University of Bonn. She was interested in physiology, which is the study of how living things work. She also loved histology, which is the study of tissues. She worked in a lab and learned special ways to prepare tissues for study. These skills helped her with her first published research paper.
Edith spent a year in Munich, focusing on internal medicine and other medical fields. The next year, she moved to Freiburg for a short time. Then she returned to Bonn for her final year of studies.
For her final project, she studied cells from a type of tumor called phaeochromocytoma. She used a special staining method to show how nerve fibers grew into these cells. Her research was published in 1928.
After finishing her studies, Edith worked as a doctor in Berlin. Later, a scientist named Paul Trendelenburg asked her to work in his lab. She studied how different medicines affected the heart.
Leaving Germany
After her mentor Paul Trendelenburg died, Edith worked as a children's doctor for a year. In 1932, she returned to Berlin to work at a hospital. During this time, the Nazi Party was gaining power in Germany. Because Edith had Jewish family, she was worried. The Nazis made it illegal for people with Jewish backgrounds to hold professional jobs. Edith was fired from the hospital. Soon after, she left Germany for England with her sisters.
Research on Smooth Muscle
Understanding Smooth Muscle
Edith Bülbring became very interested in smooth muscles. These muscles are found in organs like the stomach, intestines, and blood vessels. We don't consciously control them. She found them hard to understand because they acted unpredictably. She once said she wanted to understand why they would contract one time and relax the next, even with the same conditions. She wanted to truly understand their behavior.
In 1953, another scientist named Gustav Jacob Born joined her. Together, they started a research group focused on smooth muscle. They studied how smooth muscles use energy and how electricity moves through them. They also looked at how a chemical called serotonin helps with digestion in the small intestine.
Edith invented a special tool called a "double sucrose gap apparatus." She used it to study how different chemicals affect smooth muscle. She was very interested in how neurotransmitters like acetylcholine and adrenaline changed how smooth muscles tightened or relaxed. In 1969, she published important papers showing that adrenaline makes the muscle cell membrane more open to certain chemicals, which causes the muscle to relax.
Leading a Research Group
Edith Bülbring was known for respecting her colleagues. She encouraged them to learn new skills and become independent scientists. She was also very good at getting money for her research. She worked with charities, councils, and companies to fund her projects. Because of her skills, her research group grew very large and successful.
Over 40 years, Edith Bülbring's work helped the study of smooth muscle grow into an important field. The methods developed in her lab led to much more knowledge about how smooth muscles work. Many scientists who worked with her spread her passion for studying these tissues around the world.
Later Life and Legacy
Edith Bülbring's important work on catecholamines (chemicals like adrenaline) and smooth muscle led to her election to the Royal Society in 1958. She received many awards for her achievements. These included the Schmiedeberg-Plakette and the Wellcome Gold Medal in Pharmacology. She also received honorary degrees from several universities.
After she retired in 1971, Edith continued to work in a lab in Oxford. She developed a condition called atherosclerosis, which affected her blood flow. An old ankle injury made it worse, and she had to have part of her leg removed. Even in her seventies, she got a special artificial leg and had her car changed so she could drive. She returned to her work. When her other leg also started having problems, she tried many treatments. After a difficult operation, Edith Bülbring passed away on July 5, 1990.
Scientists who study the body and medicines remember Edith Bülbring as the most important smooth muscle physiologist in the world. Her work, and the work of those she collaborated with, created the foundation for all future research on smooth muscle.
Family
- Father: Dr. Karl Bülbring (1863–1917)
- Mother: Hortense Leonore Bülbring (née Kann; 1868–1938)
- Siblings: Hans Bülbring (brother, 1898–1918), Luci Bülbring (sister, 1900–?) and Maud Bülbring (sister, 1902–1960)
