Rolf Niedergerke
| Rolf Niedergerke | |
|---|---|
| Born |
30 April 1921 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany |
| Died | 27 December 2011 (aged 90) London, England |
| Citizenship | German |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields |
Physiology Biophysics |
| Institutions |
Cambridge University University College London |
| Alma mater |
Freiburg University Charles University in Prague (MD) |
| Known for | Muscle contraction |
| Notable awards | Rudolf Buchheim Prize |
Rolf Nidergerke (30 April 1921 – 27 December 2011) was a German physiologist and physician, and one of the discoverers of the sliding filament theory of muscle contraction. He and Andrew Huxley, complimenting the independent works of Hugh Huxley and Jean Hanson, revealed that muscle contraction is due to shortening of the muscle fibres. He studied medicine throughout the Second World War, and obtained his MD degree as the war ended in 1945. After a brief practise in his hometown, he chose a research career. He became associated with Huxley, whom he joined at Cambridge University. Together they published a landmark paper in Nature in 1954, which became the foundation of muscle mechanics.
Rolf Niedergerke was born and educated in Mülheim an der Ruhr. The turmoil of the Second World War almost interrupted his medical course when he was at Freiburg University. As a student of medicine he was exempted from conscription to serve in the German Army. However Germany was in no condition to maintain its education system as the Allies invaded from all corners by 1944. He could manage to continue at Charles University in Prague in Czechoslovakia (now in Czech Republic) and received his medical degree (MD) in 1945, just as the war ended. Before he returned to Germany he was arrested twice by the Russian Army, but managed to make a slip. He entered into medical service at the hospital and clinic in his hometown. He soon turned his interest to medical research. In 1947 he got an opportunity to join Prof Hermann Rein at the Physiological Institute, Göttingen, to study the electrical activity of nerve fibres. He was rather isolated in a department mainly working on the control of the circulation in mammals, so he was glad to be invited by Alexander von Muralt to work in the Theodor Kocher Institute in Bern. In Bern, Robert Stämpfli taught him to dissect single myelinated fibres. He made four important publications in German on frog nervous system (myelinated neurons) during his research training.
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