# Curt Richter

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American biologist and geneticist

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Curt Paul Richter Born (1894-02-20)20 February 1894 Denver, Colorado, United States Died 21 December 1988(1988-12-21) (aged 94) Baltimore, Maryland Alma mater Harvard University Johns Hopkins University Awards Karl Spencer Lashley Award (1980)[1]

**Curt Paul Richter** (February 20, 1894 – December 21, 1988) was an American [biologist](/source/Biologist), [psychobiologist](/source/Psychobiologist) and [geneticist](/source/Geneticist) who made important contributions in the field of [circadian rhythms](/source/Circadian_rhythm). Notably, Richter identified the [hypothalamus](/source/Hypothalamus) as a "biological pacemaker" involved in sleeping and wakefulness. In particular, this region suspected by Richter was later identified as the [suprachiasmatic nucleus](/source/Suprachiasmatic_nucleus).[2][3]

## Early life, family and education

Richter was born on February 20, 1894, in [Denver](/source/Denver), Colorado, to German immigrants from [Saxony](/source/Saxony), Germany. Richter's father was an engineer who owned a steel and iron firm in Denver.

In 1912, Richter studied engineering at a [Technische Hochschule](/source/Technische_Hochschule) in Germany, but he left after the outbreak of [World War I](/source/World_War_I) in 1914, switching to [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University) where he studied biology under [William E. Castle](/source/William_E._Castle). Due to Richter's lack of experience with biology, Castle advised that he drop the course, so he switched to psychology instead, studying under [E. B. Holt](/source/E._B._Holt) and [Robert Yerkes](/source/Robert_Yerkes). He graduated from Harvard in 1917 and, after a brief tour in the [United States Army](/source/United_States_Army), studied under [John Watson](/source/John_B._Watson) at [Johns Hopkins University](/source/Johns_Hopkins_University).[2][4][5]

## Work

Richter induced need states in experimental animals by depriving them of substances essential to survival, or manipulating their [hormone](/source/Hormone) levels. He showed that these need states generate appetites, and behaviors precisely fitting the animal's need even if the animal had never before experienced the need; demonstrating genetic programming of behavior. He also triggered other pre-programmed behaviors, such as nest building, by manipulating hormone levels.[6]

## Awards and honors

Richter received the [Howard Crosby Warren](/source/Howard_Crosby_Warren) Medal of the [Society of Experimental Psychologists](/source/Society_of_Experimental_Psychologists) in 1950.[7] the [APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology](/source/APA_Award_for_Distinguished_Scientific_Contributions_to_Psychology) in 1957,[8] and the [Karl Spencer Lashley Award](/source/Karl_Spencer_Lashley_Award) of the [American Philosophical Society](/source/American_Philosophical_Society) in 1980.[1]

Richter was elected to the United States [National Academy of Sciences](/source/National_Academy_of_Sciences) in 1948,[9] the [American Academy of Arts and Sciences](/source/American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences) in 1956,[10] and the American Philosophical Society in 1959.[11]

The International Society of [Psychoneuroendocrinology](/source/Psychoneuroendocrinology) established the Curt P. Richter Prize in his honor in 1979, funded by the Irish Foundation for Human Development, to recognize an outstanding manuscript by a younger scientist in psychoneuroendocrinology.[12] Now known as the Dirk Hellhammer Award following a 2021 renaming, the prize is awarded annually to an early-career investigator in psychoneuroendocrinology.[13]

## In popular culture

Richter is quoted widely for his drowning rat experiments,[14] where rats would drown in a fairly short time without attempting to swim. But if rats had repeated experiences of rescue (or of being held briefly and then freed) they "do not die", and "show no signs of giving up". As described in the paper:

Support for the assumption that the sudden death phenomenon depends largely on emotional reactions to restraint or immersion comes from the observation that after elimination of the hopelessness the rats do not die. This is achieved by repeatedly holding the rats briefly and then freeing them, and by immersing them in water for a few minutes on several occasions. In this way the rats quickly learn that the situation is not actually hopeless; thereafter they again become aggressive, try to escape, and show no signs of giving up. Wild rats so conditioned swim just as long as domestic rats or longer.

This has been interpreted as an argument for the importance of [hope](/source/Hope) and recirculates on the Internet regularly.

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Lashley-APS_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Lashley-APS_1-1) ["Karl Spencer Lashley Award"](https://www.amphilsoc.org/prizes/karl-spencer-lashley-award). *American Philosophical Society*. Retrieved 13 May 2026.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_2-1) Schulkin, Jay (1989). ["In honor of a great inquirer: Curt Richter"](https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.3758/BF03337826.pdf) (PDF). *Psychobiology*. **17** (2): 113–114. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3758/BF03337826](https://doi.org/10.3758%2FBF03337826). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [142406318](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:142406318).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-NAS-Memoir_3-0)** Schulkin, Jay (1994). ["Curt P. Richter"](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/richter-curt.pdf) (PDF). *Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences*. Vol. 65. National Academy of Sciences.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Curt Paul Richter | American biologist"](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Curt-Paul-Richter). *Encyclopedia Britannica*. Retrieved 2020-04-30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Blass, Elliott M. (1991). ["Curt Paul Richter: 1894-1988"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1422856). *The American Journal of Psychology*. **104** (1): 143–146. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0002-9556](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0002-9556). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [1422856](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1422856). Retrieved 28 April 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Denton2006_6-0)** [Denton, Derek](/source/Derek_Denton) (8 June 2006). *[The Primordial Emotions: The Dawning of Consciousness](/source/The_Primordial_Emotions)*. Oxford University Press. p. 51. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-920314-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-920314-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Warren Medal Recipients"](https://www.sepsych.org/warren-medal-recipients/). *Society of Experimental Psychologists*. Retrieved 13 May 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology"](https://www.apa.org/about/awards/scientific-contributions). *American Psychological Association*. Retrieved 13 May 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Curt P. Richter"](http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/51236.html). *nasonline.org*. National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2022-12-08.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Curt Paul Richter"](https://www.amacad.org/person/curt-paul-richter). *amacad.org*. American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 2022-12-08.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["APS Member History"](https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Curt+Richter&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced). *search.amphilsoc.org*. American Philosophical Society. Retrieved 2022-12-08.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** "Curt P. Richter Prize in Psychoneuroendocrinology". *The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism*. **48** (4): 617. April 1979. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1210/jcem-48-4-617](https://doi.org/10.1210%2Fjcem-48-4-617).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-ISPNE-DHA_13-0)** ["Dirk Hellhammer Award"](https://www.ispne.net/dirk-hellhammer-award). *International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology*. Retrieved 13 May 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Richter, Curt (1957). ["On the phenomenon of sudden death in animals and man"](https://www.aipro.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/phenomena_sudden_death.pdf) (PDF). *Psychosom. Med*. **19** (3): 191–8. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1097/00006842-195705000-00004](https://doi.org/10.1097%2F00006842-195705000-00004). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [13432092](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13432092).

## External links

- [*Medical Archives*](http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/biblio/Richter,%20Curt%20P..htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20100612142357/http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/biblio/Richter,%20Curt%20P..htm) 2010-06-12 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

- [Curt Richter](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/richter-curt.pdf)—*[Biographical Memoirs](/source/Biographical_Memoirs_of_the_National_Academy_of_Sciences)* of the [National Academy of Sciences](/source/National_Academy_of_Sciences)

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