{{Short description|German gynecologist (1878–1965)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2025}}{{Infobox person | name = Selmar Aschheim | other names = | image = Selmar Aschheim.jpg | caption = Aschheim in 1931 | birth_date = 4 October 1878 | birth_place = Berlin, German Empire | death_date = 15 February 1965 (aged 86) | death_place = | death_cause = | occupation = gynecologist | known_for = rabbit test | spouse = | parents = | children = }}
'''Selmar Aschheim''' (4 October 1878 – 15 February 1965) was a German gynecologist.
Born into a Jewish family in Berlin,<ref>Schneck P., "Selmar Aschheim (1878–1965) and Bernhard Zondek (1891–1966). On the fate of 2 Jewish physicians and researchers at the Berlin Charité Hospital" in ''Z Arztl Fortbild Qualitatssich''. 1997 Mar;91(2):187-94.</ref> in 1902 he received a doctorate of medicine in Freiburg, and later became director of the laboratory of the ''Universitäts-Frauenklinik'' at the Berlin Charité. In 1930 Aschheim attained the chair of biological research in gynecology at the University of Berlin. In 1933 he fled Nazi Germany and moved to Paris, where he worked in medical research at the Hôpital Beaujon.
Aschheim was a specialist concerning gynecological histology and hormone research. In 1928 with endocrinologist Bernhard Zondek (1891–1966), he isolated the gonadotropic hormone known as human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which was discovered in the urine of pregnant women. From their research the "Aschheim-Zondek test" for pregnancy was created, which involved injection of a patient's urine into an immature laboratory mouse.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Morris Fishbein, M.D. |encyclopedia=The New Illustrated Medical and Health Encyclopedia |title=Aschheim-Zondek Test |edition=Home Library |year=1976 |publisher=H. S. Stuttman Co |volume=1 |location=New York, N.Y.|pages=139}}</ref> If the rodent displayed an estrous reaction, it represented a positive indication of pregnancy.
The two doctors published the findings of the hormone in a treatise titled ''Das Hormon des Hypophysenvorderlappens''. At the time they believed that the gonadotrophin was produced by the anterior pituitary, however further research in the 1940s demonstrated that the placenta was responsible for the elaboration of the hormone.
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://archive.today/20130415151622/http://humupd.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/10/6/453 Historical perspectives in gonadotrophin therapy] by Bruno Lunenfeld * [http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/254.html ''Selmar Ascheim''] @ Who Named It
{{Authority control}}{{Germany-med-bio-stub}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Aschheim, Selmar}} Category:1878 births Category:1965 deaths Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to France Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany to France Category:German gynaecologists Category:University of Freiburg alumni Category:Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Category:Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin Category:Medical doctors of the Charité