Curt Richter
{{Short description|American biologist and geneticist}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2013}}{{Infobox scientist
| name = Curt Paul Richter
| birth_date = 20 February 1894
| birth_place = Denver, Colorado, United States
| death_date = 21 December 1988
| death_place = Baltimore, Maryland
| nationality = American
| alma_mater = Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
| awards = Karl Spencer Lashley Award {{small|(1980)}}
}}
Curt Paul Richter (February 20, 1894 – December 21, 1988) was an American biologist, psychobiologist and geneticist who made important contributions in the field of circadian rhythms. Notably, Richter identified the hypothalamus as a "biological pacemaker" involved in sleeping and wakefulness. In particular, this region suspected by Richter was later identified as the suprachiasmatic nucleus.{{Cite journal|last=Schulkin|first=Jay|date=1989|title=In honor of a great inquirer: Curt Richter| url= https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.3758/BF03337826.pdf|journal=Psychobiology|volume=17|issue=2|pages=113–114|doi=10.3758/BF03337826|s2cid=142406318}}
Early life, family and education
Richter was born on February 20, 1894, in Denver, Colorado, to German immigrants from Saxony, Germany. Richter's father was an engineer who owned a steel and iron firm in Denver.
In 1912, Richter studied engineering at a Technische Hochschule in Germany, but he left after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, switching to Harvard University where he studied biology under William E. Castle. Due to Richter's lack of experience with biology, Castle advised that he drop the course, so he switched to psychology instead, studying under E. B. Holt and Robert Yerkes. He graduated from Harvard in 1917 and, after a brief tour in the United States Army, studied under John Watson at Johns Hopkins University.{{Cite web|title=Curt Paul Richter {{!}} American biologist| url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/Curt-Paul-Richter| website= Encyclopedia Britannica |language= en| access-date=2020-04-30}}{{cite journal |last1=Blass |first1=Elliott M. |title=Curt Paul Richter: 1894-1988 |journal=The American Journal of Psychology |date=1991 |volume=104 |issue=1 |pages=143–146 |jstor= 1422856 |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/1422856 |access-date=28 April 2021 |issn= 0002-9556}}
Work
Richter induced need states in experimental animals by depriving them of substances essential to survival, or manipulating their hormone levels. He showed that these need states generate appetites, and behaviors precisely fitting the animal's need even if the animal had never before experienced the need; demonstrating genetic programming of behavior. He also triggered other pre-programmed behaviors, such as nest building, by manipulating hormone levels.{{cite book| first=Derek | last= Denton|author-link= Derek Denton|title=The Primordial Emotions: The Dawning of Consciousness| date=8 June 2006| page= 51| publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn= 978-0-19-920314-7}}
Richter was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1948,{{Cite web |title=Curt P. Richter | publisher = National Academy of Sciences |url= http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/51236.html |website= nasonline.org |access-date= 2022-12-08}} the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1956,{{Cite web |title=Curt Paul Richter |url= https://www.amacad.org/person/curt-paul-richter |access-date=2022-12-08 |website= amacad.org | publisher= American Academy of Arts and Sciences |language=en}} and the American Philosophical Society in 1959.{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url= https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Curt+Richter&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |website=search.amphilsoc.org | publisher = American Philosophical Society| access-date=2022-12-08 }}
In popular culture
Richter is quoted widely for his drowning rat experiments,{{cite journal |last1=Richter |first1=Curt |title=On the phenomenon of sudden death in animals and man |url=https://www.aipro.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/phenomena_sudden_death.pdf |journal=Psychosom. Med. |date=1957 |issue=19 |pages=191–8 |doi=10.1097/00006842-195705000-00004 }} where rats would drown in a fairly short time without attempting to swim. But if rats had repeated experiences of rescue (or of being held briefly and then freed) they "do not die", and "show no signs of giving up". As described in the paper:
Support for the assumption that the sudden death phenomenon depends largely on emotional reactions to restraint or immersion comes from the observation that after elimination of the hopelessness the rats do not die. This is achieved by repeatedly holding the rats briefly and then freeing them, and by immersing them in water for a few minutes on several occasions. In this way the rats quickly learn that the situation is not actually hopeless; thereafter they again become aggressive, try to escape, and show no signs of giving up. Wild rats so conditioned swim just as long as domestic rats or longer.
This has been interpreted as an argument for the importance of hope and recirculates on the internet regularly.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/biblio/Richter,%20Curt%20P..htm Medical Archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612142357/http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/biblio/Richter,%20Curt%20P..htm |date=2010-06-12 }}
- {{Biographical Memoirs|richter-curt}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richter, Curt}}
Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni
Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society
Category:20th-century American biologists
Category:Scientists from Denver
Category:20th-century United States Army personnel
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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