Jürgen Aschoff
| Jürgen Aschoff | |
|---|---|
| Born |
25 January 1913 Freiburg Im Breisgau, Germany |
| Died | 12 October 1998 (aged 85) Freiburg Im Breisgau, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | University of Bonn |
| Known for | Aschoff's Rule, Aschoff–Wever model |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chronobiology |
| Institutions |
University of Göttingen Max Planck Institute for Medical Research Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology |
Jürgen Walther Ludwig Aschoff (January 25, 1913 – October 12, 1998) was a German physician, biologist and behavioral physiologist. Together with Erwin Bünning and Colin Pittendrigh, he is considered to be a co-founder of the field of chronobiology.
Aschoff's work in the field of chronobiology introduced the idea that shifting one's light-dark cycle can result in harmful effects, such as correlations with mental illness.
Aschoff was born in Freiburg Im Breisgau as the fifth child of the pathologist Ludwig Aschoff (known for discovering the Aschoff-Tawara or atrioventricular node) and his wife Clara. He grew up in the liberal but morally strict world of Prussian academia. After the Abitur at a humanistic high school he – according to his own statement "lacking a specific interest" – studied medicine at the University of Bonn, where he joined the Burschenschaft Alemannia Bonn. Aschoff’s scientific career began in 1938, when he moved to the University of Göttingen to study thermoregulation physiology with Hermann Rein. In 1944, he received the venia legendi. He then became a professor at the University of Göttingen in 1949.
In 1952, his mentor, Hermann Rein, was appointed director of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. Rein brought Aschoff to the Institute as a collaborator to study circadian rhythms in humans, birds, and mice. Aschoff then moved to the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Andechs to work with Gustav Kramer, who showed time-compensated sun-compass navigation in birds, and Erich von Holst, who studied physiological oscillators. From 1967 to 1979, he was a director at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology and an extraordinary professor in Munich. Aschoff was a scientific member and a member of the Kollegiums of the Max Planck Institute for Behavior Physiology, as well as senator of the Max Planck Society from 1972 to 1976.
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