Gunther Hildebrandt

Gunther Hildebrandt
Born	(1924-01-12)January 12, 1924 Freiburg
Died	March 6, 1999(1999-03-06) (aged 75)

Gunther Hildebrandt (* January 12, 1924 in Freiburg; † March 6, 1999) was a German physiologist and university lecturer.

Life

From 1951 to 1959 Hildebrandt worked as a scientific assistant at the Balneological Research Center in Bad Orb, of which he became director in 1959. In 1959 he habilitated on The Rhythmic Functional Order of Pulse and Respiration for the subject Human Physiology and Balneology. In 1964 he became director of the newly founded Institute for Occupational Physiology and Rehabilitation Research in Marburg, since 1967 as full professor. Together with Herbert Hensel he established the special research area Adaptation and Rehabilitation in Marburg. He became emeritus professor in 1992.

From 1967 to 1969 he was president of the German Society for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and he was founding president of the European Society for Chronobiology (1985-1987). Hildebrandt was a member of the European Society for Classical Naturopathy, founded in 1996, and an honorary member of numerous national and international scientific societies.

One of his main areas of activity was chronobiology and chronomedicine. Here he wrote early research papers on organ rhythmics. For example, during sleep, pulse and respiration tend to settle at a ratio of 4:1. He introduced this pulse-breathing ratio into spa medicine. He proposed a discipline of "therapeutic physiology" which, analogous to the description of the processes leading to disease (pathophysiology), describes the processes leading to recovery.

Works

• Hildebrandt, Gunther (1958), Die rhythmische Funktionsordnung von Puls und Atmung (in Deutsch), Medical habilitation thesis June 4, 1959, Marburg, OCLC 720160901
• Gunther Hildebrandt, Walter Amelung (1985). Balneologie und medizinische Klimatologie. 1. Berlin [u. a.]: Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-11449-9.
• Gunther Hildebrandt, Walter Amelung (1985). Balneologie und medizinische Klimatologie. 2. Berlin [u. a.]: Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-13989-8.