From the ridiculous to the sublime- how the rejuvenation movement inspired Nobel-prize winner Charles Huggins
BAUS ePoster online library. Tanasescu G. 06/21/21; 319115; p7-7
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Dr. George Tanasescu
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Introduction
One of only two Urologists to win a Nobel-prize, Charles Huggins (along with medical student Clarence Hodges) in 1941 published his work on the effects of orchidectomy and oestrogen on metastatic prostate cancer, which informs the mainstay of treatment 80 years later. However, the focus of work on hormones in the preceding decades was vastly different from the disease area he was studying.
Materials and Methods
Primary and secondary sources have been examined to understand the social and scientific milieu in the 1930s and early 1940s in which Huggins' discovery took place.
Results
Given the impact that his work has had, it is surprising how little celebrated (especially in the United States) that Huggins is, with no definitive biography seemingly written. However, in a 1962 interview, he gives a captivating account of his discovery at a time when, 'People in Cleveland were giving bulls' testis by mouth. Others were giving testosterone. Everything was wonderful'. This was a period when Europe and the States were gripped by rejuvenation fever when the rich and famous (such as W.B. Yeats and Sigmund Freud) would either have 'monkey-gland' transplants or Steinach's operation (essentially a unilateral vasectomy). The sexology movement had also gathered pace (partially driven by Freud), and, indeed, Huggins' research was approved by the Committee for Research in Problems of Sex (who also sponsored Alfred Kinsey).
Conclusion
Within a few years, hormonal research altered focus from an area that Urologists would now consider comedic to that which dominates our contemporary practice.
One of only two Urologists to win a Nobel-prize, Charles Huggins (along with medical student Clarence Hodges) in 1941 published his work on the effects of orchidectomy and oestrogen on metastatic prostate cancer, which informs the mainstay of treatment 80 years later. However, the focus of work on hormones in the preceding decades was vastly different from the disease area he was studying.
Materials and Methods
Primary and secondary sources have been examined to understand the social and scientific milieu in the 1930s and early 1940s in which Huggins' discovery took place.
Results
Given the impact that his work has had, it is surprising how little celebrated (especially in the United States) that Huggins is, with no definitive biography seemingly written. However, in a 1962 interview, he gives a captivating account of his discovery at a time when, 'People in Cleveland were giving bulls' testis by mouth. Others were giving testosterone. Everything was wonderful'. This was a period when Europe and the States were gripped by rejuvenation fever when the rich and famous (such as W.B. Yeats and Sigmund Freud) would either have 'monkey-gland' transplants or Steinach's operation (essentially a unilateral vasectomy). The sexology movement had also gathered pace (partially driven by Freud), and, indeed, Huggins' research was approved by the Committee for Research in Problems of Sex (who also sponsored Alfred Kinsey).
Conclusion
Within a few years, hormonal research altered focus from an area that Urologists would now consider comedic to that which dominates our contemporary practice.
Introduction
One of only two Urologists to win a Nobel-prize, Charles Huggins (along with medical student Clarence Hodges) in 1941 published his work on the effects of orchidectomy and oestrogen on metastatic prostate cancer, which informs the mainstay of treatment 80 years later. However, the focus of work on hormones in the preceding decades was vastly different from the disease area he was studying.
Materials and Methods
Primary and secondary sources have been examined to understand the social and scientific milieu in the 1930s and early 1940s in which Huggins' discovery took place.
Results
Given the impact that his work has had, it is surprising how little celebrated (especially in the United States) that Huggins is, with no definitive biography seemingly written. However, in a 1962 interview, he gives a captivating account of his discovery at a time when, 'People in Cleveland were giving bulls' testis by mouth. Others were giving testosterone. Everything was wonderful'. This was a period when Europe and the States were gripped by rejuvenation fever when the rich and famous (such as W.B. Yeats and Sigmund Freud) would either have 'monkey-gland' transplants or Steinach's operation (essentially a unilateral vasectomy). The sexology movement had also gathered pace (partially driven by Freud), and, indeed, Huggins' research was approved by the Committee for Research in Problems of Sex (who also sponsored Alfred Kinsey).
Conclusion
Within a few years, hormonal research altered focus from an area that Urologists would now consider comedic to that which dominates our contemporary practice.
One of only two Urologists to win a Nobel-prize, Charles Huggins (along with medical student Clarence Hodges) in 1941 published his work on the effects of orchidectomy and oestrogen on metastatic prostate cancer, which informs the mainstay of treatment 80 years later. However, the focus of work on hormones in the preceding decades was vastly different from the disease area he was studying.
Materials and Methods
Primary and secondary sources have been examined to understand the social and scientific milieu in the 1930s and early 1940s in which Huggins' discovery took place.
Results
Given the impact that his work has had, it is surprising how little celebrated (especially in the United States) that Huggins is, with no definitive biography seemingly written. However, in a 1962 interview, he gives a captivating account of his discovery at a time when, 'People in Cleveland were giving bulls' testis by mouth. Others were giving testosterone. Everything was wonderful'. This was a period when Europe and the States were gripped by rejuvenation fever when the rich and famous (such as W.B. Yeats and Sigmund Freud) would either have 'monkey-gland' transplants or Steinach's operation (essentially a unilateral vasectomy). The sexology movement had also gathered pace (partially driven by Freud), and, indeed, Huggins' research was approved by the Committee for Research in Problems of Sex (who also sponsored Alfred Kinsey).
Conclusion
Within a few years, hormonal research altered focus from an area that Urologists would now consider comedic to that which dominates our contemporary practice.
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