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August Krogh
(15 Nov 1874 - 13 Sep 1949)
Danish physiologist and zoologist who received the 1920 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the motor-regulating mechanism of capillaries (small blood vessels). Krogh’s research linked exercise physiology with nutrition and metabolism.
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Science Quotes by August Krogh (6 quotes)
In man, the mechanical breathing is essential to life, and it is one of the old tests for death to see whether these movements have ceased completely.
— August Krogh
In 'Introduction', The Comparative Physiology of Respiratory Mechanisms (1941, 2015), 1. The book is based on a series of lectures delivered at Swarthmore College in 1939.
In the tissues generally, and in such a cavity as the abdomen, the pressure is everywhere and practically always very nearly atmospheric, and must be so, because the integuments give way very easily to any excess of pressure, whether positive or negative.
— August Krogh
In The Anatomy and Physiology of Capillaries (1922), 244.
The absorption of oxygen and the elimination of carbon dioxide in the lungs take place by diffusion alone. There is no trustworthy evidence of any regulation of this process on the part of the organism.
— August Krogh
Krogh summing up his results related to a quote from The Mechanism of gas Exchange (1910), 257, as cited by E. Snorrason, 'Krogh, Schack August Steenberg', in Charles Coulton Gillispie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1973), Vol 7, 502.
The theory of the lung as a gland has justified its existence and done excellent service in bringing forward facts, which shall survive any theoretical construction that has been or may hereafter be put upon them.
— August Krogh
From The Mechanism of Gas Exchange (1910), 257, as cited by E. Snorrason, 'Krogh, Schack August Steenberg', in Charles Coulton Gillispie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1973), Vol 7, 502.
We may fondly imagine that we are impartial seekers after truth, but with a few exceptions, to which I know that I do not belong, we are influenced—and sometimes strongly—by our personal bias; and we give our best thoughts to those ideas which we have to defend.
— August Krogh
(Said in Boston, 1929.) As quoted by E. Snorrason, 'Krogh, Schack August Steenberg', in Charles Coulton Gillispie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1973), Vol 7, 503.
When experimental results are found to be in conflict with those of an earlier investigator, the matter is often taken too easily and disposed of for an instance by pointing out a possible source of error in the experiments of the predessessor, but without enquiring whether the error, if present, would be quantitatively sufficient to explain the discrepancy. I think that disagreement with former results should never be taken easily, but every effort should be made to find a true explanation. This can be done in many more cases than it actually is; and as a result, it can be done more easily by the man “on the spot” who is already familiar with the essential details. But it may require a great deal of imagination, and very often it will require supplementary experiments.
— August Krogh
From 'August Krogh' in Festkrift Københavns Universitet 1950 (1950), 18, as cited by E. Snorrason, 'Krogh, Schack August Steenberg', in Charles Coulton Gillispie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1973), Vol 7, 501. The DSB quote is introduced, “All his life Krogh was more interested in physical than in chemiical problems in biology, and he explained his critical attitude thus.”
Quotes by others about August Krogh (1)
It is rare enough that a scientist sheds light on an area which nature has kept secret and then during his lifetime, sees that area illuminate in turn every corner of physiology and medicine. It is rarer still that one man can contribute concurrently almost as much to several other biological fields as well. That meanwhile he [August Krogh] should develop in addition a large school of devoted students who loved the man even more, if possible, than they venerated the scientist, spells the highest form of genius.
Commemorative words presented to the American Physiological Society (1950), describing Eugene Landis, his friend and colleague at Harvard University. As quoted and cited in Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen, August and Marie Krogh: Lives in Science (2013), 4.
See also:
- 15 Nov - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Krogh's birth.
- August and Marie Krogh: Lives in Science, by Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen. - book suggestion.
- Booklist for Nobel Prize Scientists.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
