| Authorised form of name | Feldberg; Wilhelm Siegmund (1900 - 1993); pharmacologist and physiologist |
| Dates | 1900 - 1993 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Hamburg, Germany, Europe |
| Date of birth | 19 November 1900 |
| Place of death | Lavenham, 74 Marsh Lane, Mill Hill, London, England |
| Date of death | 23 October 1993 |
| Occupation | Pharmacologist and Physiologist |
| Research field | Neuroscience |
| Biology |
| Physiology |
| Activity | Education:
Heinrich Hertz Realgymnasium, Hamburg 1918; medical studies in Hamburg and Heidelberg; Munich 1923; University of Berlin MD 1925; Cambridge University (1938-49)
Career:
Moved to England and studied first under John Newport Langley (FRS 1883), at Cambridge and then Henry Dale (FRS 1914), at Hampstead(1925); returned as an Assistent to the Physiological Institute in Berlin but was dismissed from the position during the Nazi removal of Jewish scientists (1933); owing to an invitation from Dale, he returned to Hampstead (1933); a grant from the Carnegie Foundation enabled him to work with Charles Kellaway at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia (1936-8); returned to England as Rockefeller lecturer in physiology at the University of Cambridge (1938); promoted to reader in Physiology (1947); head of the division of physiology and pharmacology at the National Institute for Medical Research (by then translated to Mill Hill) (1949-1965); continued to work at Mill Hill until he was forced to give up his scientific work as a consequence of attacks by animal rights activists (1990).
Honours:
CBE 1963 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 20/03/1947 |
| Age at election | 46 |
| Proposer | Francis Hugh Adam Marshall |
| John Henry Gaddum |
| Henry Hallett Dale |
| Charles H Kellaway |
| Joshua Harold Burn |
| Ernest Basil Verney |
| David Keilin |
| Edgar Douglas Adrian |
| RSActivity | Medals and prizes:
Royal Medal 1983
Lectures:
Ferrier 1974 |
| Relationships | Parents: (Emil) Daniel Feldberg (d. 1914), draper, and Amilie, née Bacharach (d. 1928).
Siblings: Lore (b. 1895), died in London in 1965, and Alexander (b. 1899).
Spouse: 1) (m. 1925) Katherine Scheffler (1897–1976), chemist trained at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin, and daughter of the art historian Karl Scheffler 2) (m. 28 September 1977) Kathleen Marguerite (Kim) O'Rourke (b. 1924/5-1981), daughter of Charles John Alfred O'Rourke, regimental sergeant-major in the Royal Artillery. She was his Secretary at Mill Hill for many years.
Children: Lore, a paediatric cardiologist, and (Karl) Johann David, maker of harpsichords. |
| PublishedWorks | RCN 17473
RCN 14228
RCN 22211
RCN 8595 |
| OtherInfo | Well known for his important work on the detection & physiological properties of Acetylcholine. This work has played an essential part in demonstrating the role of acetylcholine as a transmitter of excitations in the nervous system.
His earlier work on Histamine showed the same high quality and accurate experimental technique. He was able to prove the liberation of histamine from anaphylactic tissue and later, in Melbourne, he investigated the action of snake venoms from the same point of view.
His studies of the synthesis of acetylcholine by various tissues has found a new and interesting field.
Feldberg's scientific career ended with an exposé by animal rights activists, of malpractice and cruel methods of experimentaion on animals. An inquiry by the Medical Research Council found in 1991 that he breached regulations and caused unnecessary suffering to animals. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Image | 
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| Source | Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1997 vol 43 pp 143-170, plate, by G W Bisset and T V P Bliss
DNB |
| Code | NA7843 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| GLB/65/64/23 | Brown to W Feldberg, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill | 9 September 1952 |
| GLB/73/16 | Laboratory notebook labelled W Feldberg 2 | February 1934 - April 1936 |
| GLB/65/35/27 | Brown to W Feldberg, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill | 28 April 1958 |
| GLB/19/1/73 | W Feldberg, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill to Brown | 7 February 1960 |
| MM/21/35 | Letter from Admiral Sir George Cockburn to Sir Richard Keats | 4 June 1830 |
| GLB/65/30/29 | W Feldberg, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill to Brown | 21 November 1962 |
| GLB/65/30/30 | W Feldberg, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill to Brown | 15 January 1963 |
| GLB/2/10 | Brown to W Feldberg, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill | 28 April 1958 |
| GLB/65/30/31 | Brown to W Feldberg, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill | 21 January 1963 |
| GLB/2/12 | W Feldberg, Montreux to Brown | 5 May 1958 |
| HD/25/23 | Photograph of guests at dinner in honour of 90th birthday of Henry Dale | 11 June 1965 |
| EC/1947/11 | Feldberg, Wilhelm Siegmund: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/GA/WS/2876 | Feldberg, Wilhelm Siegmund | nd |
| GLB/2/9 | W Feldberg, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill to Brown | 24 March 1958 |
| GLB/65/22/67 | Wilhelm Feldberg, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill to Brown | 5 August 1970 |
| GLB/65/22/63 | Wilhelm Feldberg, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill to Brown | 13 June 1969 |
| GLB/65/22/68 | Wilhelm Feldberg, Marsh Lane, London to Brown | 15 November 1970 |
| HD/25/21 | Presentation album for Henry Dale on his retirement from the National Institute for Medical Research | 30 September 1942 |