Michael Heidelberger facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michael Heidelberger
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Photograph of Heidelberger by Harold Low
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| Born | April 29, 1888 New York City, US
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| Died | June 25, 1991 (aged 103) New York City
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| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Known for | Properties of antibody |
| Spouse(s) |
Nina Tachau
(m. 1916; died 1946)Charlotte Rosen
(m. 1956; died 1988) |
| Awards | Lasker Award (1953) Centenary Prize (1959) National Medal of Science (1967) Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1977) Lasker Award (1978) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Organic chemistry Immunology |
| Institutions | Rockefeller Institute Mount Sinai Hospital, New York Columbia University Rutgers University New York University School of Medicine |
| Doctoral advisor | Marston T. Bogert |
Michael Heidelberger ForMemRS (April 29, 1888 – June 25, 1991) was an American immunologist. He is often called the "father of modern immunology." He helped us understand how our bodies fight off sickness.
Heidelberger and another scientist, Oswald Avery, discovered that certain sugar molecules, called polysaccharides, found in bacteria like pneumococcus, act as antigens. Antigens are substances that trigger an immune response. This discovery helped Heidelberger show that antibodies, which are special proteins that fight off germs, are indeed proteins.
He worked at Columbia University for many years. Later in his career, he also taught at New York University. He won important awards like the National Medal of Science in 1967 and the Lasker Award twice, in 1953 and 1978. His work changed how we understand our immune system.
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Growing Up in New York
Michael Heidelberger was born in 1888 in New York City. His father, David, was a traveling salesman. His mother, Fannie, stayed home and took care of the family. Michael had a younger brother named Charles.
His father had only a basic education. So, Michael's mother took charge of his schooling. She had studied in Germany for a year. Until Michael was twelve, she taught him and his brother at home. They listened to classical music and had to speak German at dinner. A nanny taught them French during trips to Central Park. Michael later realized how useful these language skills were for science.
A Young Chemist's Dream
At age eight, Michael decided he wanted to be a chemist. He wasn't sure why, but he stuck with the idea. He mixed medicines and basic ingredients from kids' chemistry sets at home. Later, he went to the Ethical Culture School. This private high school taught him botany, zoology, physics, and chemistry. His parents were part of the Ethical Culture Society, a group focused on good values. Michael stayed connected to the school his whole life. He even invited students to visit his lab every year.
Michael also loved music. He played the clarinet in his high school orchestra. He was so good that professional musicians thought he should become a musician. But for Michael, music was his main way to relax. He played the same two handmade clarinets his entire life. He took them everywhere to play music with friends or at conferences.
College and Early Science Work
In 1905, Heidelberger started at Columbia University. His family moved closer to the school so he could live at home. He earned all his degrees from Columbia. In 1911, he got his Ph.D. in organic chemistry. His research looked at certain chemicals that his professor hoped would make useful dyes.
While studying, he earned money by selling hams to hotels. He also taught chemistry at Stevens Institute in Hoboken, New Jersey.
A Test of Commitment
After getting his Ph.D., Heidelberger visited his old family doctor, Samuel J. Meltzer. Dr. Meltzer was now a top scientist at the Rockefeller Institute. Meltzer told Heidelberger that science was "no profession for a poor man's son." Heidelberger quickly realized this was a test. He insisted he wanted to be a chemist. Meltzer then sent him to meet other chemists at the institute. They advised him to get more training in Europe. This was common for scientists back then.
In 1911, Heidelberger went to Zurich, Switzerland. He worked for a year with Richard Willstätter, a famous organic chemist who later won a Nobel Prize. There, Heidelberger learned how to make a special chemical called cyclooctatetraene. Willstätter even helped Heidelberger with lab costs. They stayed friends for over 30 years.
When Heidelberger returned from Zurich, he got an offer from the Rockefeller Institute. He had to have an interview first.
Working at the Rockefeller Institute
Michael Heidelberger passed his interview. In 1912, he started working with Walter Abraham Jacobs. They studied a chemical that seemed to help monkeys with polio. They hoped it could help humans too. At first, it looked promising, but later they realized the virus had just become weaker.
Family Life and War Work
In 1915, Heidelberger met Nina Tachau. They married in 1916. Nina was a writer and worked for groups like the League of Women Voters. She also supported the United Nations. After Nina passed away in 1946, Michael continued her work for the United Nations. He even traveled to other countries as part of the U.S. delegation.
In 1956, he married his second wife, Charlotte Rosen. She was a violist, and they met while playing music together.
During World War I, Heidelberger joined the Sanitary Corps. He continued his work with Jacobs. They worked together for over nine years and wrote many scientific papers. They developed a medicine called tryparsamide. This medicine is still used today to treat certain diseases. In 1953, the king of Belgium honored them for their discovery.
Discovering Antibodies
In 1921, Heidelberger moved to another lab at Rockefeller. He spent two years learning how to prepare large amounts of oxyhemoglobin, which carries oxygen in blood. Then, Karl Landsteiner, a famous immunologist who discovered human blood groups, arrived. Heidelberger worked with Landsteiner to study how different types of hemoglobin act as antigens. Heidelberger always said he learned immunology from Landsteiner.
Around this time, another scientist, Oswald Avery, asked Heidelberger for help. Avery had found a special substance in bacteria that caused pneumonia. In 1923, Heidelberger and Avery announced their big discovery: this substance was a polysaccharide. This was a huge step! It showed for the first time that sugar molecules, not just proteins, could act as antigens. This discovery made immunology a more exact science, based on chemistry.
Heidelberger spent the rest of his career studying these polysaccharides. He found and analyzed the structure of many different types of pneumococcal polysaccharides. He also studied how they cause immune reactions. In 1927, he left Rockefeller to lead a lab at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. A year later, he moved to Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
At Columbia University
At Columbia, Heidelberger was a consulting chemist. His office door was always open. Junior researchers and others would stop by to talk about science or politics and ask for his advice. During his 27 years there, he used his knowledge of polysaccharide antigens to develop new ways to study antibodies. He proved that antibodies are proteins. For the first time, he was able to measure them in exact amounts.
Heidelberger and his team developed a theory about how antigens and antibodies react. They showed that these reactions happen in stages. They also found that antigens and antibodies can combine in different ways. These findings helped Heidelberger create a much stronger medicine for meningitis in babies. He also developed a simple but effective vaccine for several types of pneumonia. This vaccine was successfully tested on soldiers in 1944.
Later Years and Legacy
After retiring from Columbia in 1954, Heidelberger continued his research. He moved to Rutgers University and then to New York University School of Medicine in 1964. He kept studying pneumococcal polysaccharides, always trying to link their chemical structure to how they affect the immune system. He worked full-time until he was 100 years old, and then part-time until he passed away in 1991 at the age of 103.
Heidelberger received many honors for his work. He got 15 honorary degrees and 46 medals and awards. These included two Lasker Awards, the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, and the National Medal of Science from President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was a member of important scientific groups like the National Academy of Sciences. He even published a scientific paper in every decade of the 20th century!
Heidelberger served as president of the American Association of Immunologists twice. In his speeches, he encouraged scientists to work for peace and to share ideas freely across countries. Columbia University now hosts a lecture every year to honor Michael Heidelberger and Elvin A. Kabat, who was his first Ph.D. student.
