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Paul Theodor Uhlenhuth (7 January 1870 in Hanover – 13 December 1957 in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German bacteriologist and immunologist, and Professor at the University of Strasbourg (1911–1918), at the University of Marburg (1918–1923) and at the University of Freiburg (1923–1936). He was a rector of the University of Freiburg from 1928 to 1929. After his retirement in 1936, he led his own research institute in Freiburg, known as the State Research Laboratory, until his death in 1957.
He is famous in the annals of forensic science for developing the species precipitin test, known as the Uhlenhuth test, which could distinguish human blood from animal blood in 1901, a discovery which had tremendous importance in criminal justice in the 20th century. In 1915, he discovered the pathogen of Weil's disease. He also invented the arsenic treatment of syphilis and the antimony treatment of many tropical diseases, and was an influential promoter of cancer research. He was a recipient of numerous honours, and was a member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine 40 times between 1910 and 1952, notably by Nobel laureate Karl Landsteiner. At the time of his death, he was one of the most celebrated medical researchers in Germany, and one of the rare examples of someone who was equally celebrated in the west and east during the Cold War.
Fellow scientist, Otto Beumer, professor of forensic medicine at the University of Greifswald and the coroner of Greifswald, learned of Uhlenhuth's work and joined him in perfecting the detection of human blood in dried bloodstains that were months or years old. "Detection of Old Bloodstains May Aid Crime Fighters" Popular Mechanics, August 1937 – article bottom right side of page 216
His new technique was first used in the case of four children who had been murdered and dismembered in the town of Göhren on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen in 1898 and 1901. The suspect in both cases, Ludwig TessnowLudwig Tessnow (german) claimed in 1901 that the stains on his clothing were either cattle's blood or wood stain from his occupation as a carpenter. Due to advances in forensic technology, in which one could differentiate blood from other stains such as wood dye, One Was Not Enough pp. 51–52 investigators were able to prove otherwise. Tessnow was executed for his crime in 1904. Chronicle of Murder By Brian Lane, pg 7 Forensic NursingThe Devil's Dozen: How Cutting-Edge Forensics Took Down 12 Notorious Serial Killers Katherine Ramsland Publisher: Berkley Trade; 1 edition (April 7, 2009) Language: English
In 1915 Uhlenhoth was co-discoverer of Leptospira interrogans strain RGA, a cause of leptospirosis, a severe form of leptospirosis characterized by epistaxis, jaundice, chills, fever, muscle pain, and hepatomegaly, it was one of the many ailments to afflict soldiers involved in the trench warfare of World War I.FIND THE CAUSE OF WELL'S DISEASE; Exigencies of War Lead Two German Physicians to Solve Problem of Infectious Jaundice. MAY HAVE A CURE FOR IT Its Germ Origin and Other Facts Were Discovered Only by Animal Experimentation. Article in N.Y. Times
In 1942 he was awarded the Emil von Behring prize, which is awarded every two years by the University of Marburg for outstanding achievements in immunology, serum therapy and chemotherapy. Uhlenhuth had multiple articles published in peer-reviewed journals and was an active researcher in various areas of bacteriology and immunology including research into chemotherapy and syphilis. Paul Ehrlich, winner of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Medicine, was an associate of Uhlenhuth.
After he retired from his chair at the University of Freiburg in 1936, he led his own research institute in Freiburg, originally known as the State Research Laboratory. The institute was established with financial support from the German Research Council and was led by Uhlenhuth until his death in 1957 at the age of nearly 88. In the early 1950s, the institute became part of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Freiburg. Uhlenhuth was a lifelong monarchist and was generally known by the title Geheimrat, which he had been awarded during the monarchy. From the 1930s he took an interest in building cooperation with Japanese medical scientists."Uhlenhuth, Paul," in Ärzte Lexikon: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, p. 326, Springer-Verlag, 2007,
The latest publications about Uhlenhuth's activities under the Nazi Regime in 1933–1945 led to the renaming of streets honouring his name in both Freiburg and in his hometown of Hannover.
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