Franz Büchner's wartime hypoxia research and the Nobel Prize

Abstract

Between 1901 and 1953, atotal of 5110 persons were nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This time period spans both world wars and touches on the question of how the Nobel Committees dealt with German prize candidates. The nominations of the German pathologist Franz Büchner for the Nobel Prize will be used to examine the extent to which it played arole in the awarding of the prize if some of the research results to be honoured were obtained during the National Socialist era. The article also presents an overview of all pathologists from Germany who were nominated for the Nobel Prize during the first half of the 20th century. Data from the nomination archive in Stockholm as well as nomination letters and expert opinions of the Nobel Committee (Nobel Archive) were analysed. Franz Büchner's nomination is examined in more detail as an example, because the nominators justified their proposal with Büchner's publications traced here, that in part originated from the National Socialist era. Franz Büchner was nominated by three German professors in 1963. Both areas for which he was to be awarded concerned his research on the influence of oxygen deficiency on the function and development of the human organism. In the end, Büchner's achievements were deemed not worthy of the Nobel Prize. His role as amilitary researcher during National Socialism and the knowledge of hypoxia acquired during this period do not seem to have had anegative impact on the Nobel Prize evaluation.