Francis O. Schmitt

Biography

Francis Otto Schmitt (November 23, 1903 – October 3, 1995) was an American biologist and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Schmitt was born November 23, 1903, to Otto and Clara Schmitt, in South St. Louis, Missouri. He had two siblings, Otto and Viola. Schmitt's father owned and operated a paint and wallpaper supply store that he established with his father in-law. The store was located on the first floor of the three-story family home. The family rented out the second-floor apartments and lived in the eight rooms on the third floor (Schmitt, 6–8). [ 1 ] Schmitt received an A.B. in 1924 and a Ph.D. in physiology in 1927 from Washington University in St. Louis , where he met and was mentored by John Paul Visscher . [ 2 ] [ 3 ] During a summer research program at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts , in 1923, he worked with Haldan Keffer Hartline under the supervision Jacques Loeb and Thomas Hunt Morgan . Schmitt joined the faculty in 1929 and taught zoology until 1941. He collaborated extensively with Arthur H. Compton to develop x-ray diffraction techniques for biological macro-structures like muscles and nerves.

About the Lasker Award

The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1946 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, founded by advertising pioneer Albert Lasker and his wife Mary Woodard Lasker (a medical research activist). The awards are sometimes referred to as "America's Nobels."

Quick Facts

• Award: Lasker Award - Basic Medical Research
• Added: 2026-02-07
• Source: Wikipedia
• Established: 1946
• Presented by: Lasker Foundation

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