Frieda Robscheit-Robbins

Biographical Timeline

• Born on June 8, 1888 in Euskirchen, Germany. Earlier discrepancies (e.g., 1893) are contradicted by contemporary records and her own statements.
• 1900 – Emigrated to the United States with her parents. Settled in Chicago and then San Francisco.
• 1915 – Married Hans Theodor Robscheit (1884-1959) taking the name Frieda Mathilde Robscheit.
• 1917 – Began work as assistant to George Hoyt Whipple (1878-1976) at the Hooper Foundation for medical research, University of California. Birth of daughter Gene Charlotte.
• 1920 – Published first scientific paper on hemoglobin determination by various methods under the name Frieda Saur Robscheit
• 1921 – Nominated by Whipple for membership in the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine as an independent investigator.
• 1922 – Rejoined Whipple at the newly formed University of Rochester School of Medicine as associate in pathology. Surname of Robscheit, Americanized to Robbins. However, on Whipple’s advice and with prior publications, her professional title became F.S. Robscheit-Robbins
• 1922-1933 Played a critical role in the liver therapy experiments that led to Whipple, Minot, and Murphy receiving the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1934.
• 1934 – PhD, University of Rochester on The reserve storage of red cells and hemoglobin and their parent substances during growth in dogs as influenced by diet factors
• 1950 – First woman president of the American Society for Experimental Pathology
• 1951 – Married Oscar V. Sprague (1892-1968)
• 1955 – Retired from the University of Rochester after nearly four decades of research.
• Died on December 18, 1973 in Tucson, Arizona at the age of 85, not 80 as some obituaries erroneously stated.

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Controversies

The Nobel Prize (1934)

Frieda Robscheit-Robbins’ entry into medical research was marked by resilience and sharp defiance of gendered expectations. Raised in Chicago and guided by a physician-guardian, she gravitated toward medical science through hands-on work in commercial pathology labs and later under Gideon Wells at the University of Chicago.

When she applied to work with George Hoyt Whipple at the Hooper Foundation, he initially dismissed the idea of a woman in the dog laboratory, citing the physical demands and messiness of the job.

When, in the course of his first interview with Mrs. Robscheit, he said that he didn’t think much of having a woman in the dog laboratory, she snapped back, “Well, then, Dr. Whipple, here is one woman you don’t have to have in your laboratory!” and started for the door. Whipple, impressed by this show of spirit, called her back and gave her an appointment as Fellow in Research Medicine.

Corner 1963

This bold beginning laid the foundation for a remarkable scientific partnership. When Whipple moved to establish the new medical school at the University of Rochester in 1921, he ensured Robscheit-Robbins joined the staff with the rank of associate in pathology.

During the year 1921-22, Dr. Frieda Robbins in San Francisco had been carrying on the anemia program which we had planned. A colony of standard anemic dogs had been collected and studied with great care.  The Hooper Foundation, with friendly cooperation, permitted Dr. Robbins to continue her laboratory work and occupy a good deal of space in their animal rooms during that year. A most devoted, loyal and able associate over the years, Dr. Robbins carried on through this difficult period most effectively. In December of 1922, Dr. Robbins brought the entire standard anemia dog colony, numbering about forty, including puppies, from California to Rochester where they were properly housed and the research program continued without interruption.

Whipple 1957

There, over the next three decades, she became indispensable to Whipple’s work on anaemia, especially in their long-running studies of blood regeneration using canine models. She designed experiments, performed the laborious animal care and surgical procedures, and co-authored more than 20 major papers including those forming the empirical backbone of Whipple’s Nobel-winning research on liver therapy for anaemia. Despite her central role, Robscheit-Robbins was overlooked by the Nobel Committee in 1934, a decision that continues to raise questions about the recognition of women in collaborative scientific achievement.

In his Nobel Lecture, Whipple lecture acknowledges her involvement noting: “After the transfer of the anemia colony of dogs from San Francisco to Rochester, New York (1923), Dr. Frieda Robscheit-Robbins and the writer began to use a different type of anemia.” He further credits her alongside Dr. Daft in analyzing protein metabolism in anaemia: “the mechanism of this reaction has been investigated by Drs. Daft, Robscheit-Robbins, and Whipple.”

Whipple acknowledged her essential contributions by sharing his one-third share of the Nobel Prize monetary award with her and their long-serving technical assistants, Marie M. Callahan and Doris E. Huxley. The remainder was given to his mother, in gratitude for her support of his medical education, a gesture that further highlights the collaborative nature of his research and the behind-the-scenes contributors who helped shape it.

Her absence from the Nobel citation reflects broader gender inequities in early 20th-century science. Robscheit-Robbins herself seemed unconcerned by the oversight, stating later, “I have no desire for honors.” Still, the historical record is clear: her meticulous laboratory work and experimental leadership were essential to one of the most significant breakthroughs in haematology.

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Name variations

• Friedericke Mathilde Saur
• Frieda Mathilde Robscheit
• Frieda Saur Robscheit
• Frieda S. Robscheit-Robbins
• Frieda S. Robbins
• Frieda Sprague (1951-1973)

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Major Publications

• Robscheit FS. A comparative study of hemoglobin determination by various methods. 1920; 41: 209-226
• Whipple GH. Hooper CW, Robscheit FS. Blood Regeneration Following Simple Anemia. I. Mixed Diet Reaction. American Journal of Physiology 1920; 52: 151-166
• Hooper CW, Robscheit FS, Whipple GH. Blood Regeneration Following Simple Anemia. V. The Influence of Blaud’s Pills and Hemoglobin, American Journal of Physiology 1920; 53: 263-282.
• Whipple GH, Robscheit-Robbins FS. Blood regeneration in severe anemia. I. Standard basal ration bread and experimental methods. Amer J Physiol. 1925;72(3):395-407
• Whipple GH, Robscheit-Robbins FS. Blood regeneration in severe anemia. II. Favorable influence of liver, heart and skeletal muscle in diet. Amer J Physiol. 1925;72(3):408-418
• Whipple GH, Robscheit-Robbins FS. Blood regeneration in severe anemia. IV. Green vegetable feeding. Amer J Physiol. 1925;72(3):431-435
• Robscheit-Robbins FS. The Regeneration of Hemoglobin and Erythrocytes, Physiological Reviews 1929; 9(4): 666-709
• Robscheit-Robbins FS, Whipple GH. Blood regeneration in severe anemia: XIV. a liver fraction potent in pernicious anemia fed alone and combined with whole liver, liver ash and fresh bile. J Exp Med. 1929 Jan 31;49(2):215-27.
• Rioch J, Robscheit-Robbins FS. The response of reticulocytes to potent diets in severe experimental anemia due to hemorrhage, American Journal of the Medical Sciences 1932; 184(3): 304-313
• Oehlbeck LW, Robscheit-Robbins FS, Whipple GH. Marrow hyperplasia and hemoglobin reserve in experimental anemia due to bleeding. J Exp Med. 1932 Aug 31;56(3):425-48.
• Robscheit-Robbins FS. Diet and its effect upon blood formation, Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1933; 9(5): 387-395
• Whipple GH, Robscheit-Robbins FS. Hemoglobin production factors in the human liver: I. normal, infection and intoxication. J Exp Med. 1933 Mar 31;57(4):637-51
• Robscheit-Robbins FS, Whipple GH. Hemoglobin production factors in the human liver: II. Liver degeneration, cancer, cirrhosis and hepatic insufficiency. J Exp Med. 1933 Mar 31;57(4):653-70.
• Whipple GH, Robscheit-Robbins FS. Hemoglobin production factors in the human liver: III. Anemias-primary, aplastic and secondary-leukemias. J Exp Med. 1933 Mar 31;57(4):671-87.
• Robscheit-Robbins FS. The reserve storage of red cells and hemoglobin and their parent substances during growth in dogs as influenced by diet factors Doctoral Dissertation, University of Rochester Medical Center 1934
• Robscheit-Robbins FS, Whipple GH. Infection and intoxication : their influence upon hemoglobin production in experimental anemia. J Exp Med. 1936 Apr 30;63(5):767-87.
• Robscheit-Robbins FS. Animal House. In: The First Quarter Century 1925-1950 . 1950: 133-134

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References

Biography

• Bond M. Along the Promenade: No Desire for Honors in Dr. Robbins’ Life of Long Research, Democrat and Chronicle, November 18, 1934
• Dr. Robbins to Retire From Medical School, Democrat and Chronicle, June 1, 1955: 19.
• Donovan J. Doctor Tells Of Medical Career, The Arizona Daily Star, October 29, 1961.
• Corner GW. George Hoyt Whipple and His Friends: The Life-Story of a Nobel Prize Pathologist. 1963
• Long ER. History of the American Society for Experimental Pathology: a record of its annual meetings with brief biographical sketches of its officers. 1973
• Davenport HW. George H. Whipple or how to be a great man without knowing differential equations. Physiologist. 1981 Apr-May;24(2):1-5.
• Rossiter MW. The Matthew Matilda Effect in Science. Social Studies of Science. 1993; 23(2): 325–341.
• McGrayne SB. Frieda Robscheit-Robbins In: Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries. 2001
• Svitil KA. The 50 Most Important Women in Science. Discover, 2002
• Benavente R. Frieda Robscheit-Robbins, hígados a los perros para curar la anemia y el Nobel que no fue. Mujeres con ciencia, Vidas científicas, 6 julio 2023
• Frieda S. Robscheit-Robbins. History of the Campuses and Buildings of the University of Rochester
• Frieda ROBSCHEIT. History of Scientific Women