Robbins, Frederick Chapman

▪ 2004

      American pediatrician and virologist (b. Aug. 25, 1916, Auburn, Ala.—d. Aug. 4, 2003, Cleveland, Ohio), received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1954 for successfully growing the poliovirus in tissue cultures and thereby paving the way for the development of polio vaccines; he shared the award with John Franklin Enders and Thomas H. Weller. A graduate of Harvard University Medical School (1940), Robbins interrupted his pediatric training at Children's Hospital in Boston to serve with the U.S. Army's 15th Medical General Laboratory (1942–46) during World War II. He directed studies on infectious hepatitis, typhus, and Q fever while stationed in the U.S., Italy, and North Africa and in 1945 received a Bronze Star for his work. After the war he returned to Children's Hospital, where he completed his training and in 1948 began working with Enders and Weller. At the time, viruses could not readily be grown in the laboratory, and the poliovirus could be propagated only in the nerve tissue of living monkeys. Such restrictions were inconvenient and limited the amount of virus produced for study. In 1949 the three men developed a technique for cultivating the virus in test tubes, using a mixture of human embryonic skin and muscle tissue. Their work not only helped eradicate polio in much of the world but also led to the isolation of other viruses; in 2003 scientists used the technique to identify the virus that causes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). In 1952 Robbins became director of pediatrics and contagious diseases at the Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital, a position he held until 1966. He also served as professor of pediatrics (1952–80), dean (1966–80), and professor emeritus (1985–2003) at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland.

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▪ American physician

born August 25, 1916, Auburn, Alabama, U.S.

died August 4, 2003, Cleveland, Ohio

      American pediatrician and virologist who received (with John Enders (Enders, John Franklin) and Thomas Weller (Weller, Thomas H.)) the 1954 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for successfully cultivating poliomyelitis (polio) virus in tissue cultures. This accomplishment made possible the production of polio vaccines (polio vaccine), the development of sophisticated diagnostic methods, and the isolation of new viruses.

      A graduate of Harvard University Medical School (1940), Robbins served in the United States, Italy, and North Africa during World War II (1942–46) as chief of the U.S. Army's 15th medical general laboratory virus and rickettsia section, where he investigated epidemics of infectious hepatitis, typhus, and Q fever.

      After joining Enders and Weller at the Children's Hospital in Boston in 1948, Robbins helped solve the difficult problem of propagating viruses—then known to grow only in living organisms—in laboratory suspensions of actively metabolizing cells in nutrient solutions. At that time it was believed that the virus responsible for poliomyelitis grew and multiplied only in mammalian nerve tissue, which is highly difficult to maintain outside the living animal. By 1952 Robbins and his colleagues had succeeded in cultivating the virus in mixtures of human embryonic skin and muscle tissue suspended in cell cultures, dramatically demonstrating that the polio virus subsists in extraneural tissue, only later attacking the lower part of the brain and sections of the spinal cord.

      Robbins served as director of the department of pediatrics and contagious diseases at the Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital (1952–66) and as professor of pediatrics (1952–80) and dean (1966–80) at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio. He later served as president of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (1980–85).

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