David Macht

David Israel Macht (February 14, 1882 – October 14, 1961) was a pharmacologist and Doctor of Hebrew Literature, responsible for many contributions to pharmacology during the first half of the 20th century.

Born in Moscow in 1882, Macht moved to Baltimore in 1892, age 10. He was awarded a bachelor's and a medical degree by Johns Hopkins University in 1905, and took postgraduate courses in Berlin, Munich and Vienna. He returned to America in 1909 to join the teaching staff at Johns Hopkins. He rose to the position of assistant professor, lecturing in pharmacology from 1912 to 1932. His grandson, Kenneth Lasson, would later report that at that time Johns Hopkins had a faculty quota limiting the number of Jewish staff that could proceed to full faculty.

In 1928 Macht received the first degree of advanced research awarded at Yeshiva College, New York, being made Doctor of Hebrew Literature. From 1933 to 1941 he served as visiting professor of general physiology at Yeshiva College.

From 1944 Macht was a consultant in pharmacology at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore until he suffered a stroke in 1957. He died four years later at the same hospital. Currently, Johns Hopkins honors Dr. Macht via the David I. Macht award.

Macht published over 900 scientific studies, and three books. He introduced a number of new methods of treatment of diseases. His contributions include:

The term "psychopharmacology" (the branch of science concerned with the way drugs affect the mind and behaviour) was coined by Macht in 1920.

Macht was known for his pioneering use of a technique he termed phytopharmacology which involved measuring the effects of drugs on plants. Macht's specific technique was to measure the growth rate of Lupinus albus seedlings when dosed with a test substance, and compare this against a control group of undosed seeds. The relative length of root growth would determine what he called the phytotoxic index, and provide a measure of the toxicity of the substance to the plants.

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