Background

He was born on January 2, 1895 in Denver, Colorado, United States, the son of Albert C. Smith and Margaret E. Jones. Smith described his early environment as economically poor but culturally rich.

Education

He attended high school in Cripple Creek and Denver, and received the B. A. in 1917 from the University of Denver.

Following the war he undertook graduate study in physiology at Johns Hopkins University, and in 1921 received the D. Sc.

Career

After graduation, Smith served in the army during World War I, initially in an engineer battalion and subsequently as a chemist under E. K. Marshall, investigating biologic effects of war gases.

Smith worked from 1921 to 1923 in the research laboratories of Eli Lilly and Company and then at Harvard University in the laboratory of Walter B. Cannon. In 1925 he became chairman of the Department of Physiology at the University of Virginia. Three years later he was appointed professor of physiology and director of the physiological laboratories at the New York University College of Medicine, positions he held until his retirement in 1961.

Smith's scientific interests gradually moved from physical chemistry and cellular physiology through chemotherapy to chemical physiology of the body fluids. In consequence of these latter studies, he became interested in the kidneys as the organs that control the internal environment, and by the late 1920's he had increasingly narrowed his interests to renal physiology. He went on to investigate phenomena as diverse as evolution, paleontology, the biology of consciousness, and the history of religion.

In 1928, Smith initiated his studies on the African lungfish, describing its biological significance in his philosophical novel Kamongo (1932; rev. 1949) and in his book on the evolutionary history of kidney function, From Fish to Philosopher (1953). He also published several papers on the comparative renal physiology of other animals. The results of these comparative studies were applied directly to the problems that became central to his later research: the functions of the mammalian (and especially the human) kidney.

In the 1930's he and A. N. Richards independently discovered that the glomerular filtration rate could be accurately measured by means of inulin, a starch. Smith and his collaborators elucidated the manner in which the kidney "clears" creatinine, urea, mannitol, sodium, and inulin.

Smith's New York laboratory became a center of renal physiology. In it he trained and collaborated with more than 100 clinicians and physiologists, many of whom became leaders in various disciplines. Smith somehow found time to accept and discharge many important advisory and consultative responsibilities. He also lectured and held visiting professorships at many institutions in the United States and other countries.

He died in New York City.

Achievements

• Homer William Smith played a major role in the development of contemporary knowledge of the kidney and its function. His pioneer studies involved refinement of the concept of renal clearance. He developed the methods for measurement of effective renal blood flow and of tubular mass. Two of Smith's books had a profound influence in medicine: The Physiology of the Kidney (1937), The Kidney: Structure and Function in Health and Disease (1951). He was awarded the Presidential Medal for Merit (1948), the Lasker Award (1948), and the Passano Award (1954) for his research contributions.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Nature of Secondary Valence

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Man and His Gods

    (Great book to read!! Knowledge is Power!)

  • The Physiology of the Kidney

Personality

Smith was an indefatigable investigator and worker, and an excellent and meticulous writer and editor. He was a voracious reader, not only in the sciences but also in philosophy, religion, art, music, and literature. To him, science and philosophy were never widely separated.

Quotes from others about the person

• After his death in New York City, a prominent physiologist said, "His death brought to a close what has been aptly termed the Smithian Era of physiology. For over thirty years he had dominated his chosen field in a way that few, if any, have dominated other fields. "

Connections

Smith's personal life was not notably happy. His marriage to Carlotta Smith (September 17, 1921) ended in divorce, and his second, to Margaret Wilson (March 19, 1949), with her death. The great joy of his life in later years was his son, born in April 1951. It is said that Smith's way of life, his hopes, and his plans were centered on the boy.

Father:

Albert C. Smith

Mother:

Margaret E. Jones

Spouse:

Margaret Wilson

Spouse:

Carlotta Smith

coworker:

E. K. Marshall