Bülbring , Edith , 1903-1990 , Professor of Pharmacology

Edith Bülbring, the daughter of a Dutch Jewish mother and German father, came to England in 1933, after being dismissed from a research post in Berlin because of her Jewish background. In 1938 she settled in Oxford and, working in the University's Department of Pharmacology, became a leading authority on the physiology and pharmacology of smooth muscle (visceral or involuntary muscle). In 1958 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1970 Smooth Muscle was published in her honour.

Born 27 December 1903 in Bonn, fourth and youngest child of Karl Daniel Bülbring, Professor of English at Bonn University, and Hortense Leonore (née Kann) Bülbring; Klostermann Lyzeum, 1910-1920; student at the Bonn Gymnasium, 1922; entered Bonn University, 1923; clinical training in Munich, Freiburg and Bonn, 1925-1928; MD Bonn, 1928; worked with P Trendelenburg, Professor of Pharmacology in Berlin, 1929-1931; paediatrician in Jena, 1931; assistant to U Friedemann, immunologist, in Berlin, 1932; dismissed from position in Berlin because mother was Jewish, 1933. Came to England on holiday. Via Freidemann and Henry Dale, became a research assistant to JH Burn, 1933-1938; worked with Burn in the Pharmacological laboratories of the Pharmaceutical Society in London, mainly standardising hormone and vitamin preparations; Demonstrator in the Department of Pharmacology at Oxford University, where Burn was now Professor, 1938; 1938-1949 With Burn, researched the autonomic nervous system, 1938-1949; began concentrating research on smooth muscle, 1940s; naturalisation, 1948; visit to the United States, 1949-1950; elected Fellow of the Royal Society for work on smooth muscle, 1958; appointed Reader in Pharmacology, Oxford University and Elected Active Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1960; appointed Professor of Pharmacology, Oxford University, 1967; publication of Smooth Muscle (London: Edward Arnold), 1970; retired, 1971; research in the Laboratory of Physiology at Oxford University, 1971-1981; awarded the Schmiedeberg-Plakette der Deutschen Pharmakologischen Gesellschaft, 1974; elected to an Honorary Fellowship, Lady Margaret Hall, 1975; elected Honorary Member of the Physiological Society, 1981; awarded the Wellcome Gold Medal in Pharmacology, 1985; died 5 July 1990.