Nathan Zuntz

Nathan Zuntz (1847 to 1920) was a German physiologist born in Bonn and active in Berlin, where he died. He studied medicine at Bonn, worked as an assistant to Max Schultze, and from 1881 until his retirement in 1919 taught at the agricultural college in Berlin. He is known as a pioneer of modern altitude physiology and aviation medicine, and his work on metabolism, respiration and nutrition produced instruments such as the Zuntz-Geppert respiratory apparatus of 1885 and a portable gas measuring device for field studies. He organised high-altitude research including balloon ascents in 1902 and a station on Monte Rosa, and in 1911 opened what was described as the first laboratory in Germany devoted to sports medicine.