Bernhard Zondek (July 29, 1891 - November 8, 1966) was a German-Jewish gynecologist who developed the first reliable pregnancy

Pregnancy

Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...

 test in 1928.

Biography

Bernhard Zondek was born in Wronke, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. He studied medicine in Berlin, graduating in 1919. He worked under Karl Franz at the university women’s clinic in Berlin Charité, where he specialized in obstetrics and gynecology. His older brother, Hermann Zondek, was a professor at University of Berlin and a pioneer of modern endocrinology.

Medical career

In 1926, he became ausserordentlicher professor, and in 1929, chief physician of the obstetrics and gynecology ward at the municipal hospital of Berlin-Spandau. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, he was dismissed from his posts. He left Germany for Stockholm. In the fall of 1934, he immigrated to Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

, where he was appointed professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...

, and head of obstetrics and gynecology at Hadassah Hospital. He served as president of the Jerusalem Academy of Medicine.

Medical discoveries

Zondek was one of the proponents of the inter-dependence of the endocrine glands under the control of the pituitary. His studies on pituitary-ovary interaction were instrumental in establishing this fundamental tenet. He discovered that the chorionic tissue of the placenta had endocrine capacity and this led to diagnostic techniques important for the recognition and treatment of hydatiform mole and chorionic carcinoma.

His work with the gynecologist Selmar Aschheim

Selmar Aschheim

Selmar Aschheim was a German gynecologist who was a native of Berlin. 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...

 led to his bioassay

Bioassay

Bioassay , or biological standardization is a type of scientific experiment. Bioassays are typically conducted to measure the effects of a substance on a living organism and are essential in the development of new drugs and in monitoring environmental pollutants...

 for human chorionic gonadotropin

Human chorionic gonadotropin

Human chorionic gonadotropin or human chorionic gonadotrophin is a glycoprotein hormone produced during pregnancy that is made by the developing embryo after conception and later by the syncytiotrophoblast .. Some tumors make this hormone; measured elevated levels when the patient is not...

, originally using mice, known as the Aschheim-Zondek or A-Z test. Later variations on this test used rabbits or amphibians, leading to the phrase "the rabbit died" to describe the discovery of a new pregnancy using the rabbit test

Rabbit test

The rabbit test was an early pregnancy test developed in 1927 by Bernhard Zondek and Selmar Aschheim. The original test actually used mice. The test consisted of injecting the tested woman's urine into a female rabbit, then examining the rabbit's ovaries a few days later, which would change in...

.