Selmar Aschheim

Selmar Aschheim studied medicine at the Universities of Berlin and Freiburg, being conferred doctor of medicine in Freiburg in 1902. He spent his internship at Hospitals in Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg. On his return to Berlin he became director of the laboratory of the Universitäts-Frauenklinik at the Berlin Charité. His main fields of work were gynaecological histology and hormone research. In 1930 he took over the chair of biological research in gynaecology at the University of Berlin, and in 1931 was conferred the honorary title of professor.

When Hitler came to power in 1933 Aschheim moved to France, becoming a naturalised Frenchman and director of the National centre of research at the Hôpital Beaujon.

Aschheim's most important research was in gynaecological histology and hormones. He discovered the hormone present in the urine of pregnant women (published in Archiv für Gynäkologie, Berlin, 1927, 132: 179) and developed a procedure for early recognition of pregnancy, and made countless contributions to the understanding of the effects of oestrogen, especially on the histological level. Besides this he authored works on the contents of glycogen and lipido of the mucus of the uterus, pregnancy hormone, the hormone and function of the ovary as well as its association with the pituitary gland. He demonstrated that implanting of the anterior lobe of the pituitary glands in immature rodents caused sexual development.

• Die Schwangerschaftsdiagnose aus dem Harn.
  Berlin 1930.
• Experimentelle Grundlagen der Therapie mit Ovarial- und Hypophysenvorderlappenhormonen in der Gynäkologie.
  Ergänzungsband des Handbuchs für experimentelle Therapie, Munchen, 1931.