Merkel Jacobs
University of Pennsylvania
December 6, 1884 - June 27, 1970
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Scientific Discipline: Cellular and Developmental Biology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1939)
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Cell biologist Merkel H. Jacobs’s work with cell-membrane transport enhanced our understanding of a cell’s interaction with its environment. He demonstrated how ions move along a concentration gradient in and out of the cell membrane in an attempt to maintain homeostasis. He is remembered as a pioneer in the field of cellular diffusion.
Jacobs graduated with his AB degree in 1905 and earned his PhD in 1908 from the University of Pennsylvania. He accepted a position at the University of Pennsylvania as an instructor in zoology. In 1913 he was made assistant professor and in 1923 he was made a full professor of general physiology. He also worked at the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, as an instructor in 1921, the associate director from 1925 to 1926, and the director from 1927 to 1937. He was appointed a trustee to the Marine Biological Laboratory in 1938.
