Knut Schmidt-Nielsen
September 24, 1915 - January 24, 2007
From
Duke
University's web site, edited by Martin Frank, APS Executive Director
 Animal Physiology Expert Knut Schmidt-Nielsen Dies
Knut Schmidt-Nielsen, 91, a retired professor
of physiology at Duke University and internationally recognized authority on
animal physiology, died in his sleep on Thursday, Jan. 25.
Schmidt-Nielsen studied the
physiology of animals living in extreme environments, especially camels in
the desert and saltwater frogs, to learn how they coped with hardships that
would kill other animals. In 1998, he published a memoir titled �The
Camel�s Nose: Memoirs of a Curious Scientist.�
�I have always been curious,�
Schmidt-Nielsen said in a 1997 interview. �More than anything else, I have
wondered how animals meet the
challenges of their environment, how they adapt to life in the sea and on
dry land.�
�He was in inspiration to
me,� said Sonke Johnsen, an assistant professor of biology at Duke who still
uses Schmidt-Nielsen�s physiology textbook in his classes. �I admired the
adventurousness of his science: living with Bedouins in a tent in the
Sahara.�
Schmidt-Nielsen even
prevailed upon the Duke biology department to build a �camel room� in the
sub-basement of the Biological Sciences Building which featured a
10-foot-high door and stainless steel walls, but it was never used for
research.
To current members of the
Duke community, Schmidt-Nielsen is perhaps most familiar as the man who
stands contemplating a life-size camel in a bronze sculpture �Scientist and
Nature� that stands next to Science Drive between the Biological Sciences
Building and the Gross Chemistry Building. The work, dedicated in July 1996,
was commissioned by Schmidt-Nielsen�s friend and colleague, Stephen A.
Wainwright, James B, Duke Professor of Zoology emeritus, and his wife Ruth.
Schmidt-Nielsen was born in
Trondheim, Norway, in 1915 and became a U.S. citizen in 1952. Educated in
Oslo and Copenhagen, he spent two postdoctoral years at Swarthmore College,
a year at Stanford University and three at the University of Cincinnati
College of Medicine before coming to Duke in 1952. He published 270
scientific papers and five books that were translated into 16 languages. He
also received numerous awards, including the International Prize for
Biology, the Japanese equivalent to the Nobel Prize in the biological
sciences.
Knut also served as President
of the International Union of Physiological Sciences and was the founding
editor of "News in Physiological Sciences", now called "Physiology".
�At times, I wonder what made
me a physiologist and not an engineer or carpenter or physician,� he said in
1997. �I could probably have done reasonably well in any of those fields --
about carpentry, I feel certain. I was always curious about animals, and
because my father permitted me to choose my own ways, I have enjoyed the
excitement of a life spent discovering how animals work.
�I have just never stopped
asking questions,� he said.
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