MINKOWSKI, OSKAR

born Jan. 13, 1858, Aleksotas, Russian Empire [now in Kaunas, Lithuania] died July 18, 1931, Frstenberg an der Havel, Ger. German physiologist and pathologist who introduced the concept that diabetes results from suppression of a pancreatic substance (later found to be the hormone insulin). Minkowski taught medicine at the universities of Strassburg (18821904), Cologne (190405), Greifswald (190509), and Breslau (190926). At Strassburg he investigated the biochemical basis of diabetes and found (1884) that b-hydroxybutyric acid with a concomitant decrease in blood bicarbonate is the cause of diabetic acidosis (an acidification of the blood); he also proved that diabetic coma is accompanied by a decrease in the amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in the blood, and he introduced alkali therapy to counteract it. In 1889 he discovered (with the German physiologist Joseph von Mering) that dogs subjected to removal of the pancreas develop the symptoms of diabetes, leading Minkowski to postulate that the pancreas is the site of secretion of an antidiabetic substance, now known to be insulin. By removing the liver from birds, he demonstrated (1885) that the organ is responsible for the manufacture of bile pigments and is the site of uric acid formation.