Heinz Otto Schild facts for kids
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Heinz Otto Schild (born May 18, 1906 – died June 15, 1984) was an important scientist called a pharmacologist. He is best known for creating something called the Schild plot, which helps scientists understand how medicines work.
Life Story
Heinz Otto Schild was born in a city called Fiume. This city was part of Austria-Hungary back then, but today it is known as Rijeka in Croatia. His family was Jewish.
When he was a boy, he went to school in Munich, Germany, starting in 1915. Later, in 1917, he moved to Budapest, Hungary, for more schooling. In the 1920s, he studied medicine in Munich and Berlin. He became very interested in pharmacology, which is the study of how medicines affect the body.
In 1932, Heinz Otto Schild moved to England. There, he worked in the lab of another famous scientist, Henry Hallett Dale. He also worked with John Gaddum.
He married Mireille Madeline Haquin in 1937.
During the time before World War II, he was an Italian citizen living in the UK. Because of this, he was held in a camp on the Isle of Man for a short time between 1939 and 1940. However, other scientists spoke up for him, and he was released. He stayed in Britain and became a British citizen in 1948.
His Important Work
Heinz Otto Schild made several big discoveries in pharmacology:
- He studied how a chemical called histamine causes anaphylaxis. Histamine is a substance your body makes, and anaphylaxis is a very serious allergic reaction.
- He developed very accurate ways to test how strong medicines are. These methods are called bioassay methods, and one famous one is the Schild regression.
- He suggested that there are two main types of "receptors" for histamine. Receptors are like tiny locks on the surface of cells. When histamine (the "key") fits into these locks, it causes a reaction in the body.
Awards and Honors
Heinz Otto Schild received many awards for his scientific work:
- In 1966, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society, which is a very respected group of scientists in the UK.
- In 1977, he received the Schmiedeberg Plakette from the German Pharmacological Society.
- In 1981, he was given the Wellcome Gold Medal by the British Pharmacological Society.
- In 2013, the headquarters of the British Pharmacological Society was named the 'Schild Plot' in his honor.
- In 2014, he was added to the British Pharmacological Society Hall of Fame.
