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John Jacob Abel-

Sections that need improvement include personal life, education, sections on his academic and professional achievements. There are also few citations and not many pictures.

A lot more needs to be included on the topics of his artificial kidney and his work in isolating amino acids. There is certainly a lot more information on his work creating a dialysis machine which is not mentioned in the article, and also the article only briefly mentions his work purifying insulin in its crystalline structure and the tremendous impact that had. In fact, the impact of many of his discoveries is not at all mentioned and should be included.

Abel's education is also barely discussed. While it lists the institutions he attended, it does not discuss them at all or say much of what he was doing up to his time at Hopkins. It only briefly mentions that he studied in Europe, when in fact, that is an important detail to how Abel gained his knowledge. Many Ameircan medical institutions at the time were modeling themselves after European institutions, so that fact that Abel studied in Germany is very significant to how he came about his way of thinking and researching.

I am also sure that there is more information on Abel's private life, but again there is very little information listed. In fact, it only says the name of his wife.

EDITS FOR INTRO PARAGRAPH

Abel was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1857. He earned his Ph.B. from the University of Michigan in 1883. But, during this time he took several years off as a principal of the high school in La Porte, Indiana. There, he taught many subjects ranging from chemistry and physics to Latin. He then went to Johns Hopkins University, where he studied under Henry Newell Martin, a cardiac physiologist and professor of biology. He then left for Europe, starting in Leipzig studying medical sciences, then traveling to Strasbourg where he received was about to receive his P.h.D, but instead decided to receive an M.D. in 1888.

After his doctorate, Abel worked mostly in clinical studies and took clinical courses, focusing on biochemistry and pharmacology. He traveled around Europe, mostly in Germany and central Europe, conducting research in biochemistry. During this time, Abel had a number of mentors that inspired his work and exposed him to a number of disciplines that eventually prompted him to work in biochemistry and pharmacology. Starting in 1884, Abel worked with doctors Ludwig von Frey in physiology and histology, Boeh in pharmacology, Strumpell in pathology, and Wislicenus in organic and inorganic chemistry. All of this work was done in Leipzig until 1886, when Abel moved on to Strassburg, where he again worked in various fields: internal medicine with Kussmaul, and V. Rechlinghausen in infectious disease and pathology. Eventually, Abel moved back to Strassburg where he worked more with Schmeidberg among others. Schmeidberg, however, sparked his interest in pharmacological research. Lastly, he worked in a ciochemical labratory in Berne, where he met one Cushny, who eventually worked with him at Michigan.

All of these backgrounds that Abel has show how well rounded and knowledgeable he was in various aspects of medicine. Abel knew how to work clinically and in labratory, and wokring with this many knowledgable scientists sparked his interest in research and lead to his later discoveries. Without this extensive backgorund in medicine, he would not have achived the same amount of success.

Finishing his time in Europe, Abel returned to the university of Michigan as the chair of Materia Medica and Theraputics. There, he was able to essentially create the first Department of Pharmacology and become the first professor of pharmacology. He only was at the University of Michigan until 1893, when William Osler of Johns Hopkins Medical School asked Abel to come to the school and accept a Professorship of Pharmacology.

At Johns Hopkins, Abel was chair of pharmacology and biological chemistry, until the departments split in 1908, when Abel became the chair solely of the Department of Pharmacology. At Johns Hopkins, Abel preformed his most ground breaking research and help the position of chair of the department until he retired at the age of 75 in 1932. While at Hopkins, Abel also founded the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 1805 and the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapuetics in 1909.

BACKGROUND

his family having originated from the Rhine Valley

John Jacob Abel (19 May 1857 – 26 May 1938) was an American biochemist and pharmacologist. He established the pharmacology department at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and hence became America's first full-time professor of pharmacology.  During his time at Hopkins, he made several important medical advancements, especially in the field of hormone extraction and kidney functions. He extracted a derivative of epinephrine, also known as adrenaline(1897). He also successfully purified and isolated crystalline insulin, revealing that its structure is in fact a protein(1926). His interest in kidney functions led to his invention of a primitive artificial kidney that was able to remove toxin from blood of living animals, the precursor to the dialysis machine that we are using today. In addition to his laboratory work, he found significant scientific medical journals such as he Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in 1908.