User:Bci2/GeorgeKarreman

George Karreman, PhD, MA (Hon) (4 November, 1920 in Rotterdam, Netherlands – 23 January, 1997 in Philadelphia, USA) was a Dutch-born US physicist, mathematical biophysicist and mathematical/theoretical biologist, first President of the Society for Mathematical Biology (SMB).

George Karreman's father, from whom he may have inherited many of his mathematical skills, was Chief Engineer for the Dutch Merchant Marine. He studied at Leiden University. He received his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics in 1939. He obtained his M.S. [Doctorandus(Drs.)] in Theoretical Physics in 1941 under professor Kramers one month before the University was closed.

Career
George Karreman earned his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics in 1939. He completed in 1941 his M.S. ( Doctorandus(Drs.)) in Theoretical Physics under professor Hendrik Anthony Kramers one month before Leiden University was closed during WWII. For the remainder of the second World War he kept food on the table of his family by tutoring students in physics and mathematics

He was awarded a University of Chicago Fellowship that allowed him financially to complete a Ph.D. in Mathematical Biology in 1951 under the supervision of the Founder of Mathematical Biophysics and Mathematical Biology, professor Nicolas Rashevsky. Dr. Karreman worked as a scientific research Advisor to Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgi at the Institute for Muscle Research at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. To follow his keen interest in mathematics applied to physiology and medicine in 1957 he moved to Philadelphia, where he was appointed to Senior Medical Research Scientist at the Eastern omonth after his second child was born he was appointed Associate Professor of Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He also worked at the Bockus Research Institute at the Graduate Hospital. In 1970 he was appointed full Professor of Physiology at the same university, where he held this position until his retirement in 1983, when he was named the first Professor of Emeritus of Mathematical Biology. He continued to be active in research. Among his interests were: mathematical biology and mathematical biophysics, membrane biophysics, photsynthetic mechanisms, quantum biochemistry and quantum biophysics, biological energy transfer; quantum biology, physiological irritability, mathematical and systems analysis of cardiovascular and other biosystems; cooperative and threshold phenomena in biomembranes, adsorption mechanisms at membrane surfaces.

Dr. George Karreman was Co-Founder (together with drs. H. Landahl and A. Bartholomay) and the first president of the Society for Mathematical Biology. He was also a member of: the American Physiological Society, the New York Academy of Sciences, the Franklin Institute, the Society for Supramolecular Biology, Sigma Xi, the Physiological Society of Philadelphia, and the Society for Vascular System Dynamics.

Biography
After having seen a book on Mathematical Biophysics by Nicholas Rashevsky, in August 1948 he came to Chicago with a ten day visitor's visa and $100 in his pocket and he contacted Rashevsky at the University of Chicago, where he became Rashevsky's PhD student in Mathematical Biophysics. In 1950 he was only the third cardiac patient to undergo successful coarctation surgery at the University of Chicago. In 1953 he married Anneke Halbertsma and they moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts where their first child, Grace, was born in 1954. His first son, Frank Karreman was born in 1958, and in 1962 his second son, Hubert-Jan was born. George Karreman was an exceptionally devoted educator, an inspiration to his students, research associates, family, and friends; he was also a generous man, obviously having not forgotten Rashevsky's generosity to him in his early life in Chicago. All of his children received advanced degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in several fields. He had a wide interest in his readings, a keen interest in the fine arts, such as paintings, an advanced chess player, and a most devoted husband and father. In his later years, he further developed his interests in painting and sculpture, and was also a frequent traveller to the Pacific Northwest where his son and daughter lived with their families.

Dr. Karreman passed away on February 27, 1997 at the age of 76. He is survived by his wife Anneke, his children Grace, Frank and Hubert-Jan, Daughter-in-law Jennifer, Grand-daughter Nancy, his brother Herman, and his sister-in-law Erna.

Honours

 * 1974 – first president of the Society for Mathematical Biology