Otto Friedrich Ranke | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | 17 August 1899 |
Died | 19 November 1959, age 60 |
Citizenship | German |
Alma mater | University of Munich, University of Freiburg, University of Heidelberg |
Known for | interest in methamphetamine and performance enhancing drugs |
Scientific career | |
Fields | physiology |
Doctoral advisor | Ludwig Aschoff, Philipp Broemser |
Otto Friedrich Ranke (17 August 1899 in Munich – 19 November 1959 in Erlangen) was a German physiologist and university professor. Ranke introduced methamphetamine as a performance enhancer in the Wehrmacht during World War II.
Ranke, whose father was the psychiatrist Karl Ranke (1861–1951), graduated after completing his study of medicine at the Universities of Munich and Freiburg. In Freiburg, Ranke received a medical doctorate under Ludwig Aschoff with a dissertation entitled "On the change of the elastic resistance of the aortic intima and resulting formation of atheroma." [1] Ranke studied mathematics at the Munich Technical University until 1925 with the aid of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. He became an assistant at the Institute of Pathology of the University of Freiburg under Philipp Broemser, [2] and worked from 1928 to 1935 at the Physiological Institutes of Universities of Basel and Heidelberg. [3] Ranke obtained his science doctorate in 1931 from the University of Heidelberg with a thesis entitled "The Rectifier Resonance Theory: An extension of the Helmholtz resonance theory of hearing by physical examination of cochlear fluid oscillations."
Ranke was a member of Der Stahlhelm , which was dissolved and integrated into the Sturmabteilung (SA) from 1934 to 1935, and was a member of the National Socialist Teachers League. In 1935, Ranke joined the Aviation Medical Research Institute of the Military Medical Academy in Berlin, where Hubertus Strughold worked. Ranke was appointed in 1936 to außerplanmäßiger (extraordinary) professor at the University of Berlin. From 1937 to 1945 Ranke headed the Institute of General and Military Physiology (Institut fur Allgemeine und Wehrphysiologie) at the Militararztliche Akademie in Berlin. Ranke joined the Wehrmacht in 1939 with the rank of Oberstabsarzt (Major in Medical Corps) and conducted research at the Military Medical Academy/ laboratory for Aviation Medicine on thermoregulation and nutritional physiology. Ranke also served as an advisory officer to the military. As a medical staff officer Ranke took part in the conference, "Medical Problems Arising from Sea and Winter," (Tagung über Ärztliche Fragen bei Seenot und Wintertod) August 26 and 27 1942 in Nuremberg, where the hypothermia experiments in the Dachau concentration camp were presented. Along with Karl Brandt, Ranke was, from 1944, a member of multiple scientific advisory boards.
In an effort to make its front-line soldiers and fighter pilots fight longer, harder, and with less concern for individual safety, the German army ordered them to take military-issue pills made from methamphetamine and a primarily cocaine-based stimulant. Pervitin, a methamphetamine drug newly developed by the Berlin-based Temmler pharmaceutical company, first entered the civilian market in 1938; it quickly became a top seller among the German population. The drug was brought to the attention of Ranke, at the time a military doctor and director of the Institute for General and Defense Physiology at Berlin's Academy of Military Medicine. [4] The effects of amphetamines are similar to those of the adrenaline produced by the body, triggering a heightened state of alert. In most people, the substance increases self-confidence, concentration, and willingness to take risks while at the same time reducing sensitivity to pain, hunger, thirst, and the need for sleep. In September 1939, Ranke tested the drug on 90 university students and concluded that Pervitin could help the Wehrmacht win the war. Cocaine, whose effects substantially overlap with those of amphetamine but feature greater euphoria, was later added to the formulation to increase potency through the multiplicative effects of drug interaction and to reinforce use by individuals.
Some medical authorities criticized this drug regimen, with distributed pills numbered in the millions, as having the negative consequence that many soldiers became addicted to drugs and useless in any military capacity, whether combat or supporting.
In 1946, after three months, the American military government cashiered him. From mid-September 1947 until his death, Ranke was professor of physiology at the University of Erlangen and served as director of the Physiological Institute. [5] His research interests were sensory and nutritional physiology and physiology of metabolism. Ranke was author of many scientific publications. In 1950 together with Konrad Lang he edited a textbook of Metabolism and Nutrition. Ranke died in 1959 unexpectedly of an arterial thrombosis in his sleep.
Theodor Escherich was a German-Austrian pediatrician and a professor at universities in Graz and Vienna. He discovered and described the bacterium Escherichia coli.
Rudolf Friedrich Johann Heinrich Wagner was a German anatomist and physiologist and the co-discoverer of the germinal vesicle. He made important investigations on ganglia, nerve-endings, and the sympathetic nerves.
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, or Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to "exceptional scientists and academics for their outstanding achievements in the field of research". Since 1986, up to ten prizes have been awarded annually to individuals or research groups working at a research institution in Germany or at a German research institution abroad. It is considered the most important research award in Germany.
Jacob Moleschott was a Dutch physiologist and writer on dietetics. He is known for his philosophical views in regard to scientific materialism. He was a member of German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Nathan Zuntz was a German physiologist born in Bonn. He was a pioneer of modern altitude physiology and aviation medicine.
Methamphetamine is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphetamine was discovered in 1893 and exists as two enantiomers: levo-methamphetamine and dextro-methamphetamine. Methamphetamine properly refers to a specific chemical substance, the racemic free base, which is an equal mixture of levomethamphetamine and dextromethamphetamine in their pure amine forms, but the hydrochloride salt, commonly called crystal meth, is widely used. Methamphetamine is rarely prescribed over concerns involving human neurotoxicity and potential for recreational use as an aphrodisiac and euphoriant, among other concerns, as well as the availability of safer substitute drugs with comparable treatment efficacy such as Adderall and Vyvanse. Dextromethamphetamine is a stronger CNS stimulant than levomethamphetamine.
Walther Spielmeyer was a German neuropathologist who was a native of Dessau.
Rudolf Otto Anselm Höber was a German physician and physiologist who was forced to emigrate from Nazi Germany.
Akira Ogata was a Japanese chemist and the first to synthesize methamphetamine in crystalline form in 1919.
The generally tolerant official drug policy in the Third Reich, the period of Nazi control of Germany from the 1933 Machtergreifung to Germany's 1945 defeat in World War II, was inherited from the Weimar government which was installed in 1919 following the dissolution of the German monarchy at the end of World War I.
Amphetamine and methamphetamine are central nervous system stimulants used to treat a variety of conditions. When used recreationally, they are colloquially known as "speed" or sometimes "crank". Amphetamine was first synthesized in 1887 in Germany by Romanian chemist Lazăr Edeleanu, who named it phenylisopropylamine. Around the same time, Japanese organic chemist Nagai Nagayoshi isolated ephedrine from the Chinese ephedra plant and later developed a method for ephedrine synthesis. Methamphetamine was synthesized from ephedrine in 1893 by Nagayoshi. Neither drug had a pharmacological use until 1934, when Smith, Kline & French began selling amphetamine as an inhaler under the trade name Benzedrine for congestion.
Willibald Nagel was a German physiologist, best known for his work in the field of sensory physiology.
Immanuel Munk was a German physiologist. He was the younger brother of physiologist Hermann Munk (1839–1912).
Karl Ernst Ranke was a German internist, pediatrician and pulmonologist known for his research of tuberculosis. He was the son of anthropologist Johannes Ranke (1836–1916).
Heinrich von Ranke was a German physiologist and pediatrician. He was the son of theologian Friedrich Heinrich Ranke (1798-1876) and the brother of anthropologist Johannes Ranke (1836-1916). Famed historian Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886) was his uncle.
Johannes Ranke was a German physiologist and anthropologist. He was the son of theologian Friedrich Heinrich Ranke (1798–1876), the brother of pediatrician Heinrich von Ranke (1830–1909) and father to pulmonologist Karl Ernst Ranke (1870–1926).
Albrecht Julius Theodor Bethe was a German physiologist. He was the father of physicist Hans Bethe (1906–2005).
Stimulant use disorder is a type of substance use disorder where the use of stimulants caused clinically significant impairment or distress. It is defined in the DSM-5 as "the continued use of amphetamine-type substances, cocaine, or other stimulants leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, from mild to severe". These psychoactive drugs, known as stimulants, are among the most widely used drugs in the world today, although not all stimulants can induce addiction. As of 1993, Approximately 200 million Americans have used some type of stimulant in the past year alone.
Amphetamine type stimulants (ATS) are a group of synthetic drugs that are chemical derivatives of the parent compound alpha-methylphenethylamine, also known as amphetamine. Common ATS includes amphetamine, methamphetamine, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA). ATS when used illicitly has street names including ice, meth, crystal, crank, bennies, and speed. Within the group of amphetamine-type stimulants, there are also prescription drugs including mixed amphetamine salts, dextroamphetamine, and lisdexamfetamine.