Max Joseph von PettenkoferBorn 3 Dec 1818; died 10 Feb 1901 at age 82.German chemist and physiologist whose in his early career worked on industrial chemical processes and analysis of urine and bile acids. At age 26, he became an assistant at the Royal Mint (1845), and improved methods to separate silver and gold. Yet, he is better remembered as a principle founder of public health medicine or hygiene. He studied the need for adequate nutrition. Carl von Voit, a former student, joined him in the design and construction of a respiration chamber to accuracy measure a person's metabolism of protein, fat and carbohydrate, under various conditions of ambient temperature and amount of exercise, or rest. He also developed standards for adequate ventilation in schools and hospitals. Later in his life, he turned to investigations of the epidemiology of the deadly public diseases of cholera and typhoid. He died by suicide.« |
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