Biography of Albert Niemann
Albert Niemann was the son of the well-known heroic tenor Albert Niemann (1831-1917) who performed at the Berlin State Opera and appeared as Tristan on the Metropolitan Opera House in New York; his mother was a famous actress. He studied medicine at the universities of Berlin, Freiburg and Strasbourg and obtained his degree at the latter in 1903. After broadening his experience at the medical clinic under Ernst Victor von Leyden (1832-1910), and at the pathological institute at the Moabit Hospital, Niemann trained in paediatrics as assistant at the Infants’ Home – run by the Society “Infants’ Hospital” in Berlin (Säuglingsheim der Verein Säuglingskrankenhaus Berlin). He became assistant physician in the University Children's Clinic in 1908, in 1914 he was habilitated and in 1919 he was awarded the title of professor. Niemann was appointed as director of the infant's Home at Berlin-Halensee in 1918.
Niemann's main research interests were in the field of metabolism in infancy and he published extensively in the Yearbook of Paediatrics, which he eventually edited.
Niemann's career was curtailed prematurely when he died in 1921 at the age of 41 years.
Albert Niemann is often mistaken for the chemist Albert Niemann (1834-1861) at the University of Göttingen who in 1859 first isolated the alkaloid cocaine from the plant material.