Background
Bronk, Detlev W. was born on August 13, 1897 in New York City. Son of Mitchell and Marie (Wulf) Bronk.
Bronk, Detlev W. was born on August 13, 1897 in New York City. Son of Mitchell and Marie (Wulf) Bronk.
In 1920 he was graduated from Swarthmore College where he studied electrical engineering. He received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan. The Ph.D. was granted in 1926, his dissertation being concerned with the electrical properties of the salivary glands.
After teaching at Pennsylvania and Michigan universities, he joined the faculty of Swarthmore in 1924, advancing from instructor to professor of physiology and biophysics and serving as dean of men (1926-1929). From 1929 to 1949 he was professor of biophysics and director of the Johnson Research Foundation at the University of Pennsylvania and did most of his major work. He studied in great detail the nature of sensation, body movement control, the chemical excitation of nerves, nerve impulses and their mechanism, and electrochemical methods of measuring oxygen consumption in nerve fibers. The electrochemical aspects of biological processes were a major interest of his.
Bronk was coordinator of research for the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II and was concerned with the physiological aspects of high-altitude flying. In 1949 he became president of Johns Hopkins University, where he tried to relate undergraduate to graduate study, emphasizing the progress of the individual student. From 1953 until 1968 he served as president of Rockefeller University.
Member university faculties, 1921-1949. Member President’s Science Advisory Committee, 1956-1963. Member Inter-American commission on science and technical Organization of American States, 1969-1975.
Member of New York State Public Health Council, 1972-1975. Trustee Atoms for Peace Awards, Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute (Chairman of the Board 1966-1971), Tulane University, University of Pennsylvania, Bucknell U., Haifa U., Marine Biological Laboratory, Johns Hopkins, Population Council, Protein Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Sloan-Kettering Institute. Served as ensign United States Naval Aviation Corps, 1918-1919.
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (president 1952). Member or honorary; member many American, foreign professor societies (sometime officer several). Clubs: New York Yacht, University, Century, Lotos (New York City).
Married Helen A. Ramsey, September 10, 1921. Children: John Everton Ramsey, Adrian, Mitchell Herbert.