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Biographical Memoirs: Volume 57 (1987)

Chapter: Gerhard Schmidt

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Suggested Citation:"Gerhard Schmidt." National Academy of Sciences. 1987. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 57. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1000.
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GERHARD SCHMIDT December 26, I 901—April 30, 1981 BY HERMAN M. KALCKAR IN THE MID-~920S, during the more hopeful years of the Weimar Republic, Gerhard Schmidt seemed destined for a distinguished scholarly career in biochemistry. In ]926 he receiver! the M.D. degree from the University of Frank- furt am Main, an institution that enjoyed considerable es- teem, both nationally anct internationally. In that same year, he accepted a postgraduate research fellowship in the bio- chemistry department there, the first step in a career pro- gression that brought him eventually to the position of Pri- vatdozent in the school's Department of Pathology. But Schmidt's career—like those of so many other scholars of Jewish extraction was suddenly interrupter! by the rise to power of the Nazis in 1933. He left Germany, and after a few years of "wandering" years that took him to Italy, Sweden, and Canada—he finally settled permanently in the United States. There, he continued his work: first, briefly, at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research anti Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, anct then, for nearly forty years, at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Gerhard Schmidt was born December 26, i90l, in Stutt- gart, the capital of the kingdom of Wurtemberg, which was part of imperial Germany. His father, Julius, was a professor 399

400 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS of chemistry at the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart ancT the author of a textbook on organic chemistry; Gerhard's later zeal for sound analytical chemistry was probably influ- enced by his father's interests and scientific orientation. His mother, Isabella (nee Gombrich), was an excellent pianist; her work uncloubtectly stimulated her son's active participa- tion in chamber music, an aspect of his life to which we shall return later. Gerhard attenclect the Eberhardt Ludwig Gymnasium in Stuttgart, where he was valedictorian of his class at com- mencement exercises in the spring of 1919. That autumn he enrollee! in the University of Tubingen anti electecI to study medicine; in 1922, however, he transferred] to the medical school of the University of Frankfurt am Main. His early in- terests included not only chemistry anct medicine but also general biology and particularly zoology one of his favorite books was Brehm's popular zoology text, Tierleben. After he received his medical degree in 1926, Schmidt accepted a research fellowship in the laboratory of Gustav Embclen. While preparing for work on the so-called "nuclein cleaminase," which was generally thought to liberate ammo- nia from various purine nucleosides, he selectect (among var- ious tissues) skeletal muscle for a special study. Parnas and his group had aIreacly clescribed ammonia formation in skel- etal muscle after tetanic contractions. Schmidt observed that muscle dispersions or extracts catalyzer! the release of am- monia from muscle adenylic acid preparations, a phenome- non recently described by EmbJen and Zimmerman in early 1928; according to the physical and chemical methocis they usec! for evaluation, the crystals were supposedly iclentical to the adenylic acid that Levene and his group tract isolated from yeast nucleic acid by alkaline hydrolysis. A few months later, however, Schmidt was to revise this view profoundly. He found that the adenine ring in Embclen's muscle aclenylic

GERHARD SCHMIDT 401 acid was rapi(lly cleaminate(1 by the muscle cleaminase, whereas Levene's yeast adenylic acid was not at all deami- nated by the muscle enzyme. The young Gerharct Schmidt may well have had sleepless nights after these initial observations. To reinforce his new finclings, he designed the following control. Since Levene's yeast aclenylic acid was obtained by subjecting yeast nucleic acid to a prolonged alkaline hydrolysis, Schmidt subjected muscle adenylic acid to the same type of hydrolysis. The de- aminase preparation remained equally active on the treated as well as the untreated muscle aclenylic acid. Schmidt wrote: "Therefore there can be no ctoubt about the chemical differ- ence of the two substances (muscle and yeast aclenylic acid). This will be illustratecI also by physical and chemical methods in a subsequent report by G. Embolden and G. Schmiclt."i These crucial enzymatic findings were published in 1928 by Schmidt alone but with the keen interest anct enthusiasm of his mentor Gustav Embclen; the chemical ciata were pub- lishec] by Embcien anct Schmidt in ~ 929 in the same journal- Zeitschriftfur physiologische Chemie. (It is interesting to note that the next yeast aclenylic samples sent to Schmidt and Embclen were not only sent personally by P. A. Levene but were also prepares! by him.) Schmicit's article emphasized that another cleaminase in muscle catalyzed the liberation of ammonia from aclenosine, regarcIless of whether this nucleoside orig- inated from yeast or muscle adenylic acid. Hence the position of the phosphoric acid in the adenine nucleotide was essential for the specificity of the muscle adenylic acid cleaminase. Al- though a few specific enzymes (such as urease) hac! been cle- scribed several years earlier, Schmidt's new finding in the case of muscle aclenylic acid cleaminase may be the first example ' G. EmbJen and G. Schmidt, '`Berichtigung," Zeitschrift fur Physiologische Chemie, 197:191-92. This paper corrects one of their mathematical oversights.

402 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS of the importance of conformational differences (beyond the local target groups) for enzyme specificity. This principle was to be user] successfully by Gerharc! Schmidt ant! later by other investigators for the characterization of nucleic acicis and their fragments. Because inosinic acid, the deamination product of muscle aclenylic acid, had been iclentifiect by Levene as a 5' nucleo- ticJe, muscle adenylic acid had to be consiclerect a 5' nucleo- ticle. Conversely, yeast adenylic acicI, which is now known to be simply an artifact of the alkaline degraciation, had to be assignee] a different structure either as a 2' or 3' (or both) nucleoticle. Although Schmidt followed further develop- ments with active interest, from the beginning he was careful not to categorize the nucleotides (as 2', 3', or 5') until further chemical and biochemical evidence became available.2 Schmidt's anti Embtlen's investigations, however, were soon interrupted, as outsicle political events began to impinge on scientific research programs and institutions all over Ger- many. With the rise of Hitler anc} the Nazis, virulent anti- Semitism began to spread rapidly, and many German schol- ars and artists of Jewish extraction were forced to leave the country. At many German universities, Nazis began to infi~- trate the academic community, and the persecution anc! ha- rassment of Jewish scholars in the sciences anct the humani- ties began to accelerate. This was certainly the case at the University of Frankfurt where Gustav EmbJen and Gerhard Schmidt were pursuing their important research. Finally, in 1933, during one of the frequent clashes of Nazi stormtroop- ers anct their opponents in the streets near the university, a 2 Soon after Schmidt's discovery of muscle adenylic acid, Fiske, Subarrow, and Lohmann described ATP and ADP. These pyrophosphate derivatives of muscle adenylic acid were not direct substrates for the deaminase. However, the latter en- zyme became a crucial tool for this author in the description in 1942 of adenylate kinase (myokinase), the enzyme responsible for the reversible formation of 5' ad- enylic acid and ATP from two molecules of ADP.

GE RHA RD S C H M I DT 403 uniformed! stormtrooper was killect. The man arrester! for the act, allegecIly a "communist," was triect before a tribunal that in its verdicts usually favored the Nazi cause. But the verdict on this occasion was "not guilty" because the coroner's report from the pathology department stated that the victim had been shot in the chest and not in the back, as cIaimecT by the Nazis. (Their story had been that the victim was fleeing anct was then shot; instead, the pathology report indicated . . active aggression.) The Nazis confronted the chairman of the pathology de- partment, Dr. Fischer-Wasels, and accused the young "}ewish cloctor" Gerhard Schmidt of falsifying the fincTings of the autopsy. Since Gerharc! was engaged exclusively in medical research and had no responsibility whatsoever for autopsies, Fischer-Wasels immecliately suspected] a plot and with deep sorrow urged Schmidt to leave Nazi Germany. At first, Ger- hard found the accusations too absurd to be alarmed. But finally, when Fischer-Wasels insisted on accompanying him to the next train for Switzerland, Gerhard became convinced of the imminent danger of the conspiracy. With only a few be- longings (perhaps including his beloved cello), he left Ger- many for neutral SwitzerIancI. (Fischer-Wasels, a conscien- tious scholar and administrator who abhorred anti-Semitism, is sail! to have rescuer! other Jewish medical scholars; appar- ently, however, Gustav Embclen was not one of them. Emb- clen's early death in Frankfurt, after he was forced out of his department by the Nazis at the height of one of his most creative scientific periods, remains a ridclle.) Gerharcl always felt grateful for Fischer-Wasels's resolute and courageous ac- tion, and American scientists as well have the oIct chief to thank for preserving Schmidt's research and teaching abili- ties for the scholars—both old and young of this nation. Schmidt's flight from Germany marked the beginning of years of displacement, a period that saw him moving among

404 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS appointments at universities in Italy, Sweden, and Canada. As a refugee, Gerhard Schmidt preserved his enthusiasm for the study of phosphorus compounds and for the enzymology of the bases of nucleic acids. He and his last pupil in Frank- furt, Ernest Bueding, had been studying guanase, a deami- nase of the base guanine that they found to be abundant in the spleen and liver. As a guest researcher in the institute of Hans van Euler in Stockholm from 1933 to 1934, Schmidt was encouraged to continue his studies on guanase in rat livers from normal animals and from rats deficient in vitamin A. On von Euler's suggestion, Schmidt and his coworker I. Rydh-Ehrensvard investigated the effect of carotenes on guanase levels in the spleens of vitamin A-deficient rats; they found that administration of ,3-carotene brought about a doubling of the guanase levels. During 1934, Schmidt was able to publish some other results from his research, such as the isolation of a dipeptide phosphoric acid and a study of purine bases in nonfertilized sea urchin eggs. These topics seem to be related to the work of another prominent Stock- holm biochemist, Einar Hammarsten, but it is not known whether the two researchers met during Schmidt's sojourn in Stockholm. In 1934 Schmidt moved to join Pontimalli in the Depart- ment of General Pathology at the University of Florence. With tumor research his main focus during this stay, Schmidt's interest in phosphoproteins was greatly stimulated. In the studies he conducted, his findings indicated that chick- ens carrying Rous sarcoma released phosphoproteins to the blood plasma. In addition, the phosphoprotein fractions · . . were su Sect to partition. In 1935 Schmidt obtained a Carnegie Foundation re- search fellowship for displaced German scholars. With it came his first chance to visit the Western Hemisphere, where he was invited to set up his own research program in the

GERHARD SCHMIDT 405 Chemistry Department of Queens University in Ontario, Canacla. There, in 1936, Schmidt initiated his first systematic studies of nucleic acids and nucleohistone, topics to which he would return later in his research career. For the biochemical resolution, he chose a partly purified alkaline phosphatase preparation from calf intestine. Free nucleic acid! incubated with this enzyme releasecI the main part of the phosphorus of the nucleic acid; in contrast, upon enzymic incubation, nucleohistone releaser] only 20 percent of its phosphorus, presumably from the fraction corresponding to the free nu- cleic acicI. If, however, the nucleohistone was preincubated with pancreas extract anc! then incubated with phosphatase, all the phosphorus was releasect as inorganic phosphate. Pur- ified trypsin had no effect on nucleohistone. Schmidt published his findings in 1936, two years before he joinect P. A. Levene's laboratory in New York. An addi- tional study (in 1937) on the growth of chicken embryos, and the clependence of growth on egg white (even in rather high dilutions) and on glucose, testifies to Schmicit's interest in general biology. As one of his conclusions, he states that cle- velopment is resumed after substitution of the inorganic salt solution with egg white. Schmicit's 1936 studies of anct interest in nucleohistone prompted him to apply to P. A. Levene at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York. As mentioned earlier, Levene hac! providect valuable assistance while Schmidt was still in Embclen's laboratory in Germany by sencl- ing him pure yeast nucleic acic! adenylate as a reference com- pounc! to muscle aclenylic acid. At the time of Schmidt's ap- plication, Levene was studying stepwise clepolymerization of pure yeast nucleic acict by means of enzymes. Schmicit's ex- ercise of 1936 in this fielct had already macle him familiar with the literature and also with many of the techniques needed for this work. Thus, in 193~7, Schmidt left Queens

406 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS University and joined Levene as an assistant in the Research Laboratory of Chemistry of the Rockefeller Institute. Schmidt and Levene first reinvestigated the action of a thermostable pancreatic enzyme preparation capable of cle- polymerizing yeast nucleic acid. They fully confirmed pre- vious reports of this phenomenon by W. tones as well as by R. I. Dubos. The heat-stable pancreas enzyme preparation did in fact catalyze a graclual depolymerization of yeast nu- cleic acicI, yielcling fractions that were still unable to pass through a cellophane membrane. They termed the digestion product "tetranucleoticles of high molecular weight." During this period, Levene held the firm belief that nucleic acids were polymers of tetranucleoticles, containing the four clif- ferent bases (two purines, two pyrimidines). Another of their joint papers inclucled E. G. Pickels, one of the leacling experts in ultracentrifugation techniques anct the interpretation of such data. It is in this context and at this point that Einar Hammarsten and his school in Stock- holm became standard references. According to Schmidt ant! his coworkers, the only nucleic acid preparations (from thy- mus glanct and fish sperm) in connection with proteins (his- tone and protamine, respectively) that they consi(lerect "naive" or "genuine" nucleic acids (more specifically, deoxy- ribonucleic acids) were the nucleic acid preparations from the Hammarsten group. They quote the Stockholm group's assessment of the molecular weight of the native nucleic acic! (the term DNA was not in use at that time) as of the orcler of i06. Schmidt, Pickels, and Levene also assessed the so- called Neuman preparation termed the "a" form of nucleic acic! anc! cleterminect that it had a molecular weight of 2 x i05 to io6. Finally, they confirmed R. Feulgen's suggestion that the enzymatic conversion of the "a" form to the "b" form is a depolymerization. The year Schmidt spent in Levene's laboratory was prob-

GERHARD SCHMIDT 407 ably profitable in several respects. However, Levene's conclu- sion that the so-callect tetranucleotide was the basis for nu- cleic acid structure gradually came to have less validity for Schmidt, and in later years he discreetly clismissed it. In 1938 Schmidt received an invitation to join Car! Cori, professor of pharmacology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Car! and Gerty Cori by that time tract discovered cx-glucose-~-phosphate and the enzyme gly- cogen phosphorylase, and they felt they were at the begin- ning of an exciting scientific development. Car} Cori had vis- ited Gustav EmbJen in his laboratory before 1933 and tract admirect his work anct that of his associates, including Ger- harct Schmidt. So Schmidt went to St. Louis, and the year 1939-1940, which he spent in the Cori laboratory, must have reminclect him of the exciting years with Embclen. During the year Schmidt was fortunate enough to work with Car! as well as Gerty Cori, and also with a gifted young doctoral stu- dent, Sidney Colowick. In St. :Louis Schmidt became involvect in studies of the enzymatic fission of glycogen by muscle phosphorylase, as well as the enzymatic resynthesis of polysaccharicles. The Coris tract founct that muscle adenylic acid was neeclecI for the enzymatic action of muscle phosphorylase. Schmidt was familiar with several purification techniques, some of which he had used in 1928 for the fractionation of muscle adenylic cleaminase; the cleaminase was used for the determination of adenylic acid. (The aclenylic acid usecT for the work in the Cori laboratory was a gift from Pawe! Ostern, the Polish re- searcher, shortly before his death during the Nazi attack on Polanct in 1939.) The role of muscle adenylic acid (5' AMP) in the phosphorolytic splitting of glycogen remained a puz- zling problem, however, because it was not consumed in the enzyme-catalyzecl phosphorolysis. In 1939 Walter Kiessling, one of Meyerhof's former as-

408 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS sociates who had remained in Heidelberg, briefly reported that glucose-~-phosphate aclcled to a crucle yeast enzyme fraction was converted to glycogen. The Coris and Schmidt were puzzler! that their muscle enzyme fraction, which was incubated with glucose-~-phosphate (ancl the other ingrecti- ents needed for the phosphorylase), did not catalyze any cle- tectable amounts of glycogen. Among Schmidt's incubates was one that he had absentmincledly left at room tempera- ture overnight. It was included among those being studied for glycogen, and it was founct that only this sample gave an incline color for the presence of polysaccharicles—and it was blue-recI. To Schmidt and the Coris, this was exciting news indeed, not merely because they had finally succeeded but because of the aberrant way in which the polysaccharicle bio- synthesis ensued. In aciclition, Car! Cori strongly suspected that primer formation was at work as a precursor step before the polysacchari(le biosynthesis couIcT take place, an idea that was instrumental in the success of their later work. It was an exciting year! Despite these successes, Gerhard Schmidt was still in search of a permanent scientific home, and in the spring of 1940 he founc! one at the Tufts University Medical Center. S. J. Thannhauser, head of the Boston Dispensary of the Tufts Medical School, asked Schmidt to set up a section on basic biochemical research. Thannhauser hac! been a well- known clinician in internal medicine in Freiburg, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of metabolic disorders. In 1939, a few months before the outbreak of World War IT, he escaped from Germany and arrived in Boston. The director of the university hospital medical center, Joseph Pratt, had invite(1 several German-Jewish refugee scholars involvecl in medical research or in internal medicine to the medical cen- ter. Thannhauser was among them; interested in securing a

GERHARD SCHMIDT 409 first-rate researcher in biochemistry for his unit, he in turn approached Schmidt, who agreed to come to Tufts. Considering Thannhauser's policies as laboratory chief, he was indeed fortunate to persuade Gerharct Schmidt to join his stab. Every publication from the laboratory carried Thannhauser's name, although he was listect as primary au- thor only if he was actively engaged in the lab work as well. Schmidt agreed to this clictum, and for eighteen years the Thannhauser name appeared on every Schmidt publication.3 Schmidt may not have been particularly pleased with the per- sistence of this policy, but he was too busy with research anct teaching to spend any time challenging the rule. Be that as it may, Thannhauser brought Schmidt to the Tufts Medical Center and helpecl him get started on his re- search, probably with several grants-in-sect. it is also likely that Thannhauser introcluced Schmidt to the field of lipid biochemistry, or at the least encouraged experimental work by Schmidt in this field. During his almost forty years of research at the Tufts Mectical Center, Gerharct Schmidt chiefly explored two broact biochemical fields, both dealing with phosphorus com- pounds: nucleic acids anct phospholipicis. He adciressecl him- self to both disciplines during his early years at Tufts, as well as during his later years. The succeeding paragraphs will clear first with his work on nucleic acids, a field he had aireacly cultivatect when he arrived in this hemisphere. 3 This author may occasionally have guessed who led in programming the diverse pieces of research. 1 am assuming that a few publications that carried Thannhauser's name first must have been initiated and largely carried out by him; since the bibli- ographies in these memoirs do not make that clear, however, I will try to indicate this in the text. In any case, Schmidt was in his late fifties and well into his more embracing and distinguished tenure as a full professor before he had the oppor- tunity to publish and present his name in a style that clearly indicated who was in charge of the research program. Although his colleagues knew, the next generation of scholars may need some orientation.

410 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS Gerhard Schmidt had an unusual ability to develop sturdy analytical methods for quantitative determinations of some of the main constituents of the cell, especially the phosphorus compounds. By 1945 the need for quantitative methods of investigating the nucleic acids had intensified to a point that called for skilled action. Schmidt's familiarity with pentose color reactions from his work on purine nucleotides was not of help for the new task; as he himself emphasized, pyrimi- dine nucleotides are too acid resistant in terms of releasing pentose and deoxyribose is destroyed during the pro- tracted acid hydrolysis needed for release. Schmidt therefore designed a new method for nucleic acid analysis around the determination of phosphorus. The use of dilute alkali brought about the most useful resolution. If tissue extracts (as tissue powder free of lipids) are dissolved in dilute KOH- (l N) and incubated at 37°C for 20 to 24 hours, a clear so- lution is usually obtained. A small aliquot of this solution can be used to determine total phosphorus. On the addition of excess trichloroacetic acid (TCA), fortified with 0.2 volume of 6 N HC1, precipitation of the DNA occurs. DNA that lacks the hydroxyl group in the "2" position possesses alkaline- stable diester bonds ant! remains in the macromolecular, acid-insoluble state; whereas RNA containing hydroxyl groups in the "2" as well as the "3" position is alkaline labile and hydrolyzes to soluble ribonucleotides. The characteristics of this alkali lability and the mode of action of various nucleases were later explored by Schmidt and others. Schmidt's strategy for the analyses was as follows. The clear filtrate (by now, acid) contained a mixture of in- organic phosphate from the alkaline-labile phosphoserine es- ter bonds, and purine and pyrimidine nucleotides. The latter were determined as total P lashing procedure). The total ma- cromolecular phosphorus in the precipitate that appeared following acidification of the alkaline digest represents DNA.

GERHARD SCHMIDT 411 Schmidt describect these important methods once more in Colowick and Kaplan's Methods in Enzymology (vol. ~ Jilt, which also contains several of Schmicit's enzymatic methods. During 1946 and 1947, Schmidt returned to one of his favorite fields: the use of specific enzymes to explore nucleo- ticle and especially polynucleotide structure. As mentioned earlier, the tetranucleoticle concept was not basest on sturdy analyses, yet nobody had procluced convincing evidence against the tetranucleotide moclel. The use of ribonuclease was very much on Schmicit's minct, especially since the Kunitz crystalline ribonuclease had become available. In masterly symposium articles publishect in 1947 and 1951, Schmidt summarized his experience with the enzymatic clegradation of yeast ribonucleic acid and the characterization of its procI- ucts anct pointed out the few options available to obtain new insight. Earlier investigators hacl used crystalline ribonu- clease together with various phosphatase preparations in ex- cess, but they were unable to characterize the products. Schmidt anct his coworkers clecided on a somewhat different strategy. Yeast ribonucleic acid was first treated with crystal- line ribonuclease, which they prepared themselves; but this procedure clid not release any inorganic phosphate. Subse- quently, a powerful "acid! phosphatase" prepared from hu- man prostates (deliverer] from the Department of Surgery of Massachusetts General Hospital) was successfully employed. Schmiclt, however, warned against using an excess of the crucle prostate phosphatase because it contained traces of ribonuclease activity. Aciclition of dilute prostate phosphatase preparations brought about a release of approximately 25 percent of the organic phosphate of the ribonucleate prep- aration. But what type of 2' or 3' nucleoticles released by ribonu- clease corresponcled to the 25 percent fraction that was so reaclily dephosphorylatecl through the action of prostate

412 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS phosphatase? Acid hyctrolysis in ~ N sulfuric acid at 100°C revealed that they were not the acid-labile type of purine-2' or -3' nucleoticles; the fraction released by ribonuclease shower] an acid hycirolysis curve characteristic of pyrimidine nucleotides. Apparently, ribonuclease hacl released a mixture of pyrimicline mononucleotides, and the remaining polynu- cleotides contained all the purines. In addition, other inves- tigators especially H. S. Loring hacl arrived at similar con- clusions using different techniques. These results spelled the enct of the era of the tetranucleoticle hypothesis anct paved the way for concepts that couIcl be emancipated from the earlier symmetry moclel. Also in 1946, Schmidt and coworkers studying phosphate uptake in bakers yeast anct the accumulation of phosphoric esters founcT an acicI-hycirolyzable fraction that was precipita- ble with barium acetate. (This fraction was particularly con- spicuous if the yeast cells had been starved for phosphate prior to its adclition.) The accumulated phosphoric ester was identified as metaphosphate in a paper Schmidt et al. pre- pared reporting their work. Independently, Wiame in Bel- gium observer! metachromatic staining in yeast cells that were subjected to the same physiological conditions (see the review of this research by Gerharct Schmidt in 19511. Schmidt and his coworkers soon found that the uptake of phosphate into yeast (previously starved for phosphorus) and its subsequent accumulation as metaphosphate require the presence of po- tassium ions. In addition, they cliscoverect that potassium and magnesium ions are cotransported in preference to any other cations (see Schmidt, Hecht, ant] Thannhauser, 19494. The accumulation as well as the turnover of the metaphosphate fraction were also found to be enhanced by the addition of nitrogen sources to the medium, a response reminiscent of that of RNA-P. In other research, published by Schmidt and coworkers

GERHARD SCHMIDT . 413 in 1951, periociate oxidation was used as a too} for stepwise clegradation of ribonucleic acids and oligonucleotides re- leased after digestion of RNA with pancreas ribonuclease. I. M. GulIand ant! W. E. Cohn hack shown that certain nu- cleases can release 5' aclenylic acid] from RNA digests. The labilization of the 5' phosphoric ester bonct of ribonucleo- ticles by perioclate oxidation of the 2' and 3' hyclroxy! groups (to alclehycle groups) was used. In the process, the amine forms a complex with the oxiclizect oligonucleoticle. Schmicit emphasized that the conditions usect are relatively mild; yet prolonged exposure to pH 9 for 90 minutes at 45°C—the step needecI to release the base may gradually bring about alterations in the macromolecule. He therefore recom- mendec3 that this preliminary method rather be used on oli- gonucleoticles not exceeding ~ to 10 units. It appears that this early edition of purine-pyrimidine se- quencing was not further pursuer by Schmiclt. The "revo- lution" in nucleic acid biochemistry had begun, and Schmidt followed these clevelopments with admiration. They became an important part of his teaching, however, rather than his research. When he returned later to the nucleic acid field, he revived his early interest in thymus nucleohistone. In a 1972 stucly of the amount of binding of divalent ions Ca+ + and Mg+ + to the phosphoric ester groups of thy- mus nucleohistones, Schmidt et al. identified the following features. Thymus nucleohistone (ThyNuHi) bincIs Mg+ + in up to 50 percent of its phosphoric (P) groups. This corre- sponds to the capacity to bind tolui(line blue. Accorclingly, only half of the DNA phosphoric groups of ThyNuHi can be bounc! to the cation groups of its histone components. ThyNuHi is hydrolyzecl slowly by crystalline pancreas DNAase (cleoxyribonuclease I), which is much slower than DNA. The remaining macromolecular residue containing the histone floes not bind Mg++, ant! DNAase is unable to

414 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS catalyze further splitting. The molecular weight of the resist- . ant residues was determined by Clark and FelsenfelcT (1971) and found to be approximately 100,000. Clark ancT Felsen- felct, as well as Schmidt et al., suggested that the DNA-bounc! histone might occur as discrete clusters (of similar chain length), alternating with histone-free segments along the DNA chain; only the histone-free segments can binct divalent ions ant! are susceptible to DNAase, releasing acicI-soluble oligonucleoticles. Schmidt, however, found it wise to express some caution concerning interpretations of their findings. He emphasizer] that the amount of DNA cligested was to some extent a function of the amount of DNAase used; large excesses of DNAase after longtime incubation will split nearly 100 per- cent of the nucleohistone. This reservation, however, was not meant to belittle the potential importance of their findings anc! those of Clark anc! Felsenfeld. Because the opus by Schmidt et al. contained fragments that were to be used in a Ph.D. thesis, Schmidt felt that self-criticism was well justified. The other broac! biochemical fielct of particular interest to Schmidt was phospholipicTs. Schmidt's interest in lipid re- search was uncloubtecIly influenced by Thannhauser; to- gether they produced a number of papers describing obser- vations that in turn stimulated other researchers in the fielcI. Much of their work was clone before the introduction of modern chromatographic procedures. To circumvent this limitation, Schmidt tried to clevise a scheme by which the partition of lipid phosphorus wouIcl provide separate deter- minations of the sphingomyelin, plasmalogen phosphoglyc- ericles, and diary! phosphoglycerides in tissue samples of moderate sizes. The total lipict extract was saponified uncler milcl alkaline conditions that deacylatecl phosphoglycericles. The phosphorus of the aqueous extract represented ctiacy} glycerophosphaticles (containing nitrogenous constituents

GERHARD SCHMIDT 415 like choline, ethanolamine, or serine). Schmidt found it note- worthy that the plasmalogens remained in the nonsaponifi- able fraction. He, however, was able to obtain water-soluble phosphorus by a brief treatment with mercuric chloride. He soon realized that saponification as well as hydrolysis of this product with HgCI2 were needed to obtain water-soluble plasmalogen phosphorus. Schmidt therefore proposed that native plasmalogen con- tained an additional lipid chain that was removed by sapon- ification. This structural problem was solved several years later by Maurice Rapport. Rapport discovered the existence of an (`x'B)-unsaturated ether that on acid hydrolysis gave rise to an aldehyde, thus showing that the acetal structure origi- nally proposed by Feulgen is not the native structure. It is probably needless to state that Schmidt followed Rapport's elegant work with delight. As a result of these investigations, some structural work, mainly led by Thannhauser, had to be revised, such as the report that the sulfate in cerebroside sulfate was attached to the C6 of the galactose moiety. Later work by T. Yamakawa established that the sulfate was actually attached to the C3 carbon. In a 1970 paper, Schmidt, together with E. L. Hogan and K. C. Joseph, described his studies of the composition of cere- bral lipids in murine sudanophilic leucodystrophy. The re- search involved measurement of the cerebrosides and sphin- golipids in brains of mice with genetically determined disorders of myelination. In normal myelination during de- velopment, sphingolipids and cerebrosides increase by a fac- tor of approximately four; phospholipids increase twofold. "Jimpy mutants," a mouse mutant described by R. Sidman, have defective myelination in the central nervous system. In these mice, cerebrosides are highly defective, and sphingo- lipids are also lowered; phospholipid composition remains

416 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS unaltered. In 30-day-old jimpy mice with seizures, the cere- brosides were almost totally lost (only 5 to 10 percent were left); sphingolipids were below 20 percent; and only phos- pholipids were preserved. At the time of development when myelination is most ac- tive, the leucodystrophic mice mutants showed increased lev- els of cerebrosides in the brain. The ensuing relative deficit points against a defect in the biosynthesis of cerebrosides. The quaking mouse mutants, a less fulminant form, showed a more moderate loss of cerebrosides. In addition to his research responsibilities, Schmidt taught at the Tufts Medical School, and this cluty he not only fulfilled but greatly treasured. His lectures for first-year mect- ical school biochemistry students covered structural macro- molecules, preferably proteins and nucleic acids. At least, this was the case during the middle ~ 960s, according to Schmidt's son Milton, who attended his father's lectures at that time. According to Milton Schmidt, the lectures were ". . . exquis- itely lucid and logical. Details were present . . . as a way of getting across a point. In spite of logic and clarity, he was never ctry or dull. As in his cello-playing, he was truly rhap- sodic when he lectured, conveying intense enthusiasm to everyone." Gerhard's devotion to music was a very important feature of his personality and certainly deserves mention here. His approach to art centered on music, a choice that had prob- ably been influenced by his mother, Isabella Schmidt (nee Gombrich), who was a talented pianist and teacher. (When only in her late teens, she went to Berlin and was invited as a pianist to the rehearsals of the preeminent Joachim string ensemble; the late Dr. Ernest Bueding, a colleague of Ger- hard's and an active viola player himself, praised Frau Isa- belIa's perceptive and brilliant piano playing in chamber music.)

GERHARD SCHMIDT 417 Gerhard played his cello with gusto, especially in chamber music; the great works of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert were perhaps closest to his heart. What inspired him in music was not only beauty but strength and originality. ~ shall never forget when ~ received a special gift from him, a record of one of Schubert's most demanding and magnificent string quartets (the great G major), which is only very rarely played in concert halls. Gerhard had told me about its special "tex- ture," exemplifying Schubert's genius at its greatest. He was pleased to know how deeply my wife and ~ appreciated his . ,% gilt. Gerhard enjoyed great popularity among young as well as older colleagues. His warm humor shone through, espe- cially in his happy family circles but also among his friends. He could and often did make fun of his own absentmind- edness. In his youth he enjoyed the German humorist Wil- helm Busch, and he could still cite long passages from Busch's work in his later years. He of course found and enjoyed many humorists in this country, even those bordering on slapstick; many of us recall Gerhard's laughter over Laurel and Hardy. In later years, Gerhard Schmidt remained as active in the lab as in his earlier career. He arrived early and stayed late in the evening, regardless of snowstorms and lack of public transportation. As one of his former students, Dr. Peter Cashions, puts it: "l can't recall a day in five years that he missed, excluding vacations and meetings. ~ recall once when during a blizzard all traffic was stopped he apparently non- chalantly walked home to his apartment along the Fenway and Mission Hill some of the toughest districts of the city.... His typical workday had the serene, unhurried ca- ~ Gerhard Schmidt was married in 1940 to Edith Straus-Horkheimer. They had two sons: Michael, who is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital in New York City, and Milton, a psychiatrist in the Boston area. Schmidt greatly enjoyed his family life, which in later years included two grandchildren.

418 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS dence that might be associated with, or more akin to, the pressure of a glacier rather than the frenetic state of agita- tion, more often linked to high achievers. A particularly good example of this was when he'd go out and buy a TO-pounct lobster, dissect out one of the nerves from which he'd extract sphingomyelin. Then he would melt down a pound of butter, boil the rest of the lobster, and everyone wouIct have a feast at about X p.m. in the lab." In the lab, Schmidt insisted on doing practically every- thing with his own hands, anc! when his modest dexterity began slipping during his later years, former students recall many an evening loaded with a highly charged atmosphere. He was not always able to convey to his students in the lab his frustrations with his own manual mistakes. Sometimes after a number of attempts at a particular technique, the frowning professor wouIcl be breathing heavily; but he might still be unable to convey to a student when the instrument would be available. Arguments with him about lab proce- dures were spare anc! laconic, however, since Schmidt, a vet- eran of many boIct lab experiments, did not think that any- body else's advice was warranted. Some of this tension during GerharcI Schmidt's last years in the lab may have been relater! to a particularly intense anc! important project that he discusser! with me. This project, which involvect a return to the study of thymus nucleohis- tones, was very close to his heart. AncT although the study was never completer! to his own satisfaction, Schmidt's energy and enthusiasm persisted to the last. Gerhard Schmidt was a member of several scientific soci- eties inclucling the American Society of Biological Chemists, Canadian Physiological Society, New York Academy of Sci- ences, American Chemical Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. Among the honorary soci- eties that electecT him as a member were Sigma Xi, the Amer-

GERHARD SCHMIDT 419 ican Academy of Arts ancT Sciences, ancT the National Acad- emy of Sciences. There have also been posthumous honors as well. Volume 100 of Colowick and Kaplan's Methods in En- zymology is dedicated to the memory of Gerhard Schmidt as a scholar and artist; it inclucles a photograph of him playing his belovecT cello anct a charming little dedication by Sidney Colowick ancT Nathan Kaplan. In 198 I, the president of Tufts University establishect an annual Gerharct Schmidt lecture- ship commemorating Schmicit's long anct distinguishecT ser- vice to the Tufts University School of Medicine. Four ctistin- guished lectures thus far have been delivered at Tufts University Mectical School in Boston. IN PREPARING this biographical memoir, my thanks are due to many friends of the late Gerhard Schmidt. At the Tufts University Medical School, Drs. R. L. Kisliuk and H. Mautner rendered much help. Regarding Gerhard's terminal year at the University of Frankfurt, the late Dr. Ernest Bueding of Johns Hopkins Univer- sity provided important information. In trying to formulate the section on lipid research, my thanks are due to Drs. George Hau- ser, Harvard Medical School; Norman Radin, University of Michi- gan; and M. M. Rapport, New York State Psychiatric Institute. Concerning such aspects of his life as teaching and lab work with students, I am grateful to Drs. Milton Schmidt of Boston and Peter Cashions of the biology department of the University of New Brunswick. The late Dr. Sidney P. Colowick of Vanderbilt Univer- s~ry gave me particularly valuable encouragement, criticism, and stimulation in general in my efforts to formulate the memoir. And finally, special thanks are due Mrs. Edith Schmidt for her help and advice, and for her generous encouragement as well. .

420 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS ACADEMIC HISTORY 1919-1922 Student of Medicine, University of Tubingen, Ger- many 1922-1924 Student of Medicine, University of Frankfurt, Frank- furt am Main, Germany (State Board) 1924-1925 Intern in Medicine, Municipal Hospital, Stuttgart, Germany Intern in Medicine, University Hospital, Frankfurt 1925 1925-1926 Graduate Student in Medicine, University of Frank- furt 1926 M.D. Degree Awarded (Thesis in Biochemistry; Su- pervisor: Professor G. Embden) 1926-1929 Postgraduate Research Fellow, Department of Bio- chemistry, University of Frankfurt 1929-1931 Assistant and Director of Biochemical Research Lab- oratory, Department of Pathology, University of Frankfurt 1931-1933 Instructor (Privatdozent) in Pathological Chemistry, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Frankfurt 1933 Dismissed on April 1 by the Hitler government be- cause of"Jewish race" 1933 Research Biochemist, Marine Biological Laborato- ries, Naples, Italy; Department of Biochemistry, University of Naples (April through September) 1933-1934 Research Fellow, Department of Biochemistry, Uni- versity of Stockholm, Sweden 1934-1935 Research Fellow, Department of General Pathology, University of Florence, Italy 1935-1937 Carnegie Foundation Research Fellowship for Dis- placed German Scholars, Department of Chem- istry, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Can- ada 1937-1938 Assistant, Research Laboratory of Chemistry, Rocke- feller Institute for Medical Research 1938 - 1940 Research Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri

GERHARD SCHMIDT 421 1940-1948 Research Associate, Thannhauser Research Labora- tory, Boston Dispensary, Tufts University School of Medicine 1948-1955 Research Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry, Tufts University School of Medicine 1955 - 1972 Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Biochem- istry, Tufts University School of Medicine 1972-1981 Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Research Biochemist, Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Tufts University School of Medi- clne

422 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS BIBLIOGRAPHY 1928 .. Uber Kolloidchemische Veranderungen bei der Ermuding des Warmblutermuskels. Arbeitsphysiologie, 1 (2~: 1 36-53. Uber fermentative Desaminierung im Muskel. Z. Physiol. Chem. 179:243-69. 1929 With G. Embden. Uber Muskeladenylsaure und Hefeadenylsaure. Z. Physiol. Chem., 181:130-39. Lactacidogen (Review). In: The Enzymes, vol.3, Methodology, ed. Carl Oppenheimer, p. 1189. Berlin: George Thieme. 1930 With G. Embden. Uber die Bedeutung der Adenylsaure fur die Muskelfunktion; weitere Untersuchungen uber die Herkunft des Muskelammoniaks. Z. Physiol. Chem., 186:205-11. 1931 With G. Embden. Berichtigung. Z. Physiol. Chem., 197:191-92. Uber die Abbau des Guaninkerns durch die Fermente der Kan- inchenleber. Klin. Wochenschr., 10: 165 - 67. 1932 Mikrobestimmungen von Purinsubstanzen in Gewebe, I. Mittei- lung: Die Bestimmung des Guanins von Ernst Engel. Z. Physiol. Chem., 108:225 -36. Enzymic breakdown of guanylic acid by rabbit liver. Z. Physiol. Chem., 208: 185. 1933 Mikrobestimmungen von Purinsubstanzen in Gewebe, II. Mittei- lung Die Bestimmung des Adenins und der Oxypurine. Z. Physiol. Chem., 219~5/6~: 191-206.

GERHARD SCHMIDT 1934 423 Preparation and composition of a dipeptide phosphoric acid ob- tained by enzymatic hydrolysis of casein. Z. Physiol. Chem., 223:86. On the binding of the purine bases in the non-fertilized sea urchin egg. Z. Physiol. Chem., 223:81. With H. von Euler. Purine content and the normal and patholog- ical growth of tissues. Z. Physiol. Chem., 223:215. With H. von Euler. Nucleoproteins of fish testicles. Z. Physiol. Chem., 225:92. With I. Rydh-Ehrensvaard. Influence of carotenes on guanase con- tent of rat spleen. Z. Physiol. Chem., 227:177. 1935 With F. Pontimalli. Partition of the P-fractions in blood plasma of chickens with Rous sarcoma. Biochem. Z., 282:62-73. 1936 Chemical differences between protein-linked and free nucleic acids. Science, 83:15. Action of enzymes on proteins with prosthetic groups: Action of nucleophosphatase on thymus nucleohistone. Enzymologia, 1: 135-41. 1937 Growth-stimulating effect of egg white and its importance for em- bryonic development. Enzymologia, 4:40-48. 1938 With P. A. Levene. Effect of nucleophosphatase on "native" and "depolymerized" thymonucleic acid. Science, 88:172-73. With P. A. Levene. Ribonucleodepolymerase (the Jones-Dubos en- zyme). I. Biol. Chem., 126:423 - 34. 1939 With E. G. Pickets and P. A. Levene. Enzymic depolymerization of deoxyribonucleic acids of different degrees of polymerization. I. Biol. Chem., 127:251-59.

424 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS With C. F. Cori and G. T. Cori. Synthesis of a polysaccharide from glucose-l-phosphate in muscle extract. Science, 89:464. With G. T. Cori and C. F. Cori. Role of glucose-l-phosphate in the formation of blood sugar and synthesis of glycogen in the liver. I. Biol. Chem., 129:629-39. 1943 With S. I. Thannhauser. Intestinal phosphatase. }. Biol. Chem., 149:369. 1945 With B. Hershman and S. I. Thannhauser. Isolation of (alpha)- glycerylphosphorylcholine from incubated beef pancreas and its significance for the intermediary metabolism of lecithin. I. Biol. Chem., 161:523. With S. Proger, D. Decaneas, and B. Wadler. Effect of anoxia and injected cyctochrome C. on the easily hydrolyzable phosphorus in rat organs. I. Biol. Chem., 160: 233. With S. I. Thannhauser. A method for the determination of des- oxyribonucleic acid, ribonucleic acid and phosphoprotein phos- phorus in tissues. I. Biol. Chem., 161:83. 1946 With I. Benotti, B. H. Swartz, and S. I. Thannhauser. Partition of phospholipide mixtures into monoaminophosphatides and sphingomyelin. I. Biol. Chem., 165:505-11. With L. I. Hecht and S. I. Thannhauser. Enzymic formation and accumulation of metaphosphate in baker's yeast under certain nutritional conditions. i. Biol. Chem., 166:775-76. With S. i. Thannhauser. Lipids and lipidoses (Review). Physiol. Rev., 26:275. 1947 With R. Cubiles and S. {. Thannhauser. Action of prostate phos- phatase on yeast ribonucleic acid. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol., 12: 161. With R. Cubiles, B. H. Swartz, and S. I. Thannhauser. Action of ribonucleinase on yeast ribonucleic acid. I. Biol. Chem., 170:759-60.

GERHARD SCHMIDT 425 1948 With L. I. Hecht and S. i. Thannhauser. Behavior of the nucleic acids during the early development of the sea urchin egg (Ar- bacia). J. Gen. Physiol., 31:203. With S. J. Thannhauser. The chemistry of the lipids (Review). Annul Rev. Biochem., 12:233. With I. Fischmann, H. A. Chamberlain, and R. Cubiles. Determi- nation of acid phosphatase in various normal and pathological specimens of prostate gland. i. Urol., 59: 194. 1949 With L. I. Hecht and S. }. Thannhauser. Effect of potassium ions on the absorption of orthophosphate and the formation of metaphosphate by baker's yeast. i. Biol. Chem., 178:733-42. With B. Ottenstein and S. I. Thannhauser. Pathogenesis of Gauch- er's disease. Blood, 3:1250. 1950 Nucleic acids, purines and pyrimidines (Review). Annul Rev. Bio- chem., 19:149. 1951 Biochemistry of inorganic pyrophosphates and metaphosphates. In: Proceedings of a Symposium on Phosphorus Metabolism, vol. 1, ed. W. McElroy and B. Glass, pp. 443-75. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University. With R. Cubiles and S. J. Thannhauser. Nature of the products formed by the action of crystalline ribonuclease on yeast ribo- nucleic acid. J. Cell Comp. Physiol., 38(suppl. 11:61. With R. Buciles, N. Zoellner, L. I. Hecht, N. Strickler, K. Seraydar- ian, M. Seraydarian, and S. I. Thannhauser. Action of ribonu- clease. J. Biol. Chem., 192:7 15 -26. With S. J. Thannhauser and N. F. Boncoddo. Procedure for the isolation of crystallized acetal phospholipides from brain. }. Biol. Chem., 188:417. With S. I. Thannhauser and N. F. Boncoddo. The C-structure of the acetal phospholipides of brain. J. Biol. Chem., 188:423.

426 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS 1952 With L. I. Hecht, P. Fallot, L. M. Greenbaum, and S. I. Thannhau- ser. Amounts of glycerylphosphorylcholine in mammalian tis- sues. I. Biol. Chem., 197:601-9. 1953 With M. Bessman and S. i. Thannhauser. Hydrolysis of L-~-glyc- erylphosphorylethanolamine. J. Biol. Chem., 203:849. 1955 With L. M. Greenbaum, P. Fallot, A. C. Walker, and S. i. Thann- hauser. Amounts of glycerylphosphorylesters in tissues. }. Biol. Chem., 212:869. With M. Liss and S. i. Thannhauser. Guanine, the principal nitro- genous constituent of the excrements of certain spiders. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 16:533. With R. Cubiles. Occurrence of the carnosine-anserine fraction in skeletal muscle and its absence in heart. Arch. Biochem. Bio- phys., 58:227. With S. I. Thannhauser and I. Fellig. Structure of the cerebroside sulfuric acid ester of beef brain. I. Biol. Chem., 215:211. Acid prostatic phosphomonoesterase (Review). In: Methods in En- zymology, vol. 2, ed. S. P. Colowick and N. O. Kaplan, pp. 523- 30. New York: Academic Press. Nucleases and enzymes attacking nucleic acid components (Re- view). In: The Nucleic Acids, vol. 1, ed. E. Chargaff and J. N. Davidson, p. 555. New York: Academic Press. 1956 With M. J. Bessman, M. D. Hickey, and S. J. Thannhauser. Con- centrations of some constituents of egg yolk in its soluble phase. ]. Biol. Chem., 223:1027. With H. M. Davidson. In vitro incorporation of labeled phosphate into phosphoproteins by lactating mammary gland. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 19: 116. With K. Seraydarian, L. M. Greenbaum, M. D. Hickey, and S. J. Thannhauser. Effect of certain nutritional conditions on the formation of purines and ribonucleic acid in baker's yeast. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 20:135.

GERHARD SCHMIDT 1957 427 In: Methods in Enzymology, vol. 3, ed. S. P. Colowick and N. O. Kap- lan: Preparation of phosphopyruvic acid, pp. 223-28; Prepa- ration of O- (L- (alpha)-glyceryl) phosphorylcholine, phos- phorylcholine, O- (L- (alpha)-glyceryl) phosphorylethanolamine and phosphorylethanolamine, pp. 346-58; Determination of nucleic acids by phosphorus analysis, pp. 671-79; Preparation of ribonucleic acid from yeast and animal tissues, pp. 687-91; Chemical and enzymatic methods for the identification and structural elucidation of nucleic acids and nucleotides, pp. 747- 75; and Colorimetric and enzymatic methods for the determi- nation of some purines and pyrimidines, pp. 775-81. New York: Academic Press. With B. Ottenstein, W. A. Spencer, C. Hackethal, and S. I. Thann- hauser. Quantitative partition of acetal phospholipides and free lipide aldehydes. Symposium on Chemistry and Metabolism of Phospholipides. Fed. Proc., 16:816. With M. I. Bessman and S. I. Thannhauser. Enzymatic hydrolysis of cephalin in rat intestinal mucosa. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 23:127. 1959 Nucleoproteins and cancer (Review). In: Physiopathology of Cancer, 2d ea., ed. F. Homburger, p. 707. New York: P. B. Hoeber. With B. Ottenstein, W. A. Spencer, K. Keck, R. Blietz, I. Papas, D. Porter, M. L. Levin, and S. i. Thannhauser. The partition of tissue phospholipides by phosphorus analysis. AMA Am. J. Dis. Child., 97:691. 1961 With L. Fingerman and S. I. Thannhauser. Incorporation of la- beled orthophosphate into the phosphatidyl compounds, plas- malogens, and sphingomyelins of brain, skeletal muscle and heart of the intact rat. (Proceedings of the Deuel Conference on Lipidoses and Hyperlipemic Conditions, San Diego, Califor- nia, 1960.) Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 9:124. With H. Weicker, I. A. Dain, and S. I. Thannhauser. Chromato- graphic fractionation of gangliosides. Conference on Sphingo- lipidoses, New York.

428 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS 1962 With H. Weicker, I. A. Dain, and S. I. Thannhauser. Chemical com- position and physical properties of gangliosidic components isolated by adsorption chromatography on silica gel columns. In: Cerebral Sphingolipidoses, pp. 289-99. New York: Academic Press. 1963 With G. Barisch, M.-C. Laumont, T. Herman, and M. Liss. Acid phosphatase of bakers' yeast: An enzyme of the external cell surface. Biochemistry, 2:126-31. 1965 With G. Barisch, T. Kitagawa, K. Fujisawa, i. Knolle, l. Joseph, P. DeMarco, M. Liss, and R. Haschemeyer. Isolation of a phos- phoprotein of high phosphorus content from the eggs of brown brook trout. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 18:60. 1966 With E. I. Hogan, A. Kjeta-Fyda, T. Tanaka, J. Joseph, N. I. Feld- man, R. A. Collins, and R. W. Keenan. Determination of the lipid bases in the lipids of spinal cord, optic nerve, and sciatic nerve of some species. In: Inborn Errors of Sphingolipid Metabo- l~sm, ed. S. M. Aronson, pp. 325-59. Elmsford, N.Y.: Pergamon Press. 1968 With K. Okabe and R. W. Keenan. Phytosphingosine groups as quantitatively significant components of the mucosa of the small intestines. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 31:137. R. W. Keenan and K. Okabe (from the Thannhauser Research Lab- oratory, Tufts University School of Medicine, Director: G. Schmidt). Metabolic degradation of tritiated dihydrosphingo- sine in the liver of the intact rat. Biochemistry, 7:2696. 1970 With E. L. Hogan and K. C. Joseph. Composition of cerebral lipids in murine sudanophilic leucodystrophy. J. Neurochem., 17:75- 83.

GERHARD SCHMIDT 429 1972 With P. I. Cashions, S. Suzuki, }. P. Joseph, P. DeMarco, and M. E. Cohen. The action of pancreas deoxyribonuclease I (deoxyri- bonucleate oligonucleotidohydrolase, EC-number 3.1.4.5.) on calf thymus nucleohistone. Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 149:513- 27. 1975 With M. E. Cohen and P. DeMarco. The action of staphylococcal nuclease (EC-number 3.1.4.7.) on thynucleohistone and on some nucleoprotamines. Mol. Cell. Biochem., 6:185-94.

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This distinguished series contains the biographies of deceased members of the National Academy of Sciences and bibliographies of their published works. Each biographical essay was written by a member of the Academy familiar with the professional career of the deceased. A cumulative index for all 57 volumes is now included. For historical and bibliographical purposes, these volumes are worth returning to time and again.

Volume 57 includes biographies of: Arthur Francis Buddington, J. George Harrar, Paul Herget, John Dove Isaacs III, Bessel Kok, Otto Krayer, Rebecca Craighill Lancefield, Harold Dwight Lasswell, Jay Laurence Lush, John Howard Mueller, Robert Franklin Pitts, John Robert Raper, Karl Sax, Gerhard Schmidt, Leslie Spier, Hans-Lukas Teuber, and Warren Weaver.

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