Oskar Minkowski
Encyclopedia
Oskar Minkowski

He held a professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 at at the University of Breslau and is most famous for his research on diabetes. He is the brother of the mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

 Hermann Minkowski
Hermann Minkowski
Hermann Minkowski was a German mathematician of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, who created and developed the geometry of numbers and who used geometrical methods to solve difficult problems in number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity.- Life and work :Hermann Minkowski was born...

 and father of astrophysicist Rudolph Minkowski
Rudolph Minkowski
Rudolph Minkowski was a German-American astronomer. His father was the physiologist Oskar Minkowski and his uncle was Hermann Minkowski....

.

Discovery of the role of pancreas in diabetes

Minkowski worked with Josef von Mering on the study of diabetes at the University of Strasbourg
University of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....

. Their landmark study in 1889 in dogs induced diabetes by removing their pancreas. It was Minkowski who performed the operation and made the crucial link to recognize that the symptoms of the treated dogs were due to diabetes. Thus they were able to indicate that the pancreas
Pancreas
The pancreas is a gland organ in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as a digestive organ, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that assist...

 contained regulators to control blood sugar
Blood sugar
The blood sugar concentration or blood glucose level is the amount of glucose present in the blood of a human or animal. Normally in mammals, the body maintains the blood glucose level at a reference range between about 3.6 and 5.8 mM , or 64.8 and 104.4 mg/dL...

; they also provided model for the study of diabetes. Their work led other doctors and scientists to pursue further research on the relation of the pancreas to diabetes, and ultimately resulted in the discovery of insulin as a treatment for the disease.
  • Joseph von Mering, Oskar Minkowski: Diabetes mellitus nach Pankreasextirpation. Centralblatt für klinische Medicin, Leipzig, 1889, 10 (23): 393-394. Archiv für experimentelle Patholgie und Pharmakologie, Leipzig, 1890, 26: 37. It begins with, After removal of the pancreas dogs get diabetes. It starts sometime after the operation and will persist for weeks continuously until their death...

Minkowski Prize

In recognition of the discovery by Minkowski the European Association for the Study of Diabetes
European Association for the Study of Diabetes
The European Association for the Study of Diabetes is an scientific association founded in Montecatini, Italy in 1965 with Dr. Joseph Hoet as Founding President...

 annually awards the Minkowski Prize
Minkowski Prize
The Minkowski Prize is given by the European Association for the Study of Diabetes , in recognition to research which has been carried out by a person normally residing in Europe, as manifested by publications which contribute to the advancement of knowledge concerning diabetes mellitus...

for outstanding original work of a younger investigator in diabetes research.

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