W.F.H.M. Mommaerts papers, 1943-1991, bulk Bulk, 1985-1991

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Summary

Creators:
Mommaerts, W. F. H. M.
Abstract:
Wilfried Francius Henricus Maria (W.F.H.M.) Mommaerts (1917-1994) was a Belgian-born physiologist and Professor of Medicine and Physiology at the UCLA School of Medicine's Department of Physiology, whose research focused on cardiovascular function and disease. This collection, spanning 1943-1991 (bulk 1985-1991), focuses largely on the final years of Mommaerts' career and life, including summaries of research contributions, correspondence, notes, and drafts pertaining to a book manuscript he co-edited, and a typescript copy of most of the chapters from his unpublished autobiography (1986).
Extent:
1.8 linear feet (2 boxes and 1 oversize flat box)
Language:
and Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], W.F.H.M. Mommaerts papers (Collection 394). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

The W.F.H.M. papers largely focus on the final years of his career and life, from 1985-1991. A highlight of this collection is a typescript copy of most of the chapters from Mommaerts' unpublished autobiography written in 1986. The collection also includes correspondence, notes, and drafts pertaining to the book manuscript he co-edited with Rainer Greger and Hans-Peter Koepchen, Human Physiology from Cellular Mechanisms to Integration (1985-1991). The manuscript was published in 1996 after his death. Aside from Mommaerts' curriculum vitae, degree certificates, and summaries of research contributions, this collection lacks the majority of his teaching, research, lectures, and committee activities.

Biographical / historical:

Wilfried Franciscus Henricus Maria (W.F.H.M.) Mommaerts was born March 4, 1917, in Broechem, Antwerp, Belgium. He studied biology at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, earning his BA in 1937 and MA in 1939. His studies focused on general and comparative physiology, chloroplasts, chemical embryology, and tissue culture. In 1941, he joined the research group of the future Nobel Laureate, Professor Albert Szent-Györgyi, at the Institute for Medical Chemistry in Szeged, Hungary, and received his PhD in 1943 from the University of Kolozvar, Hungary (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania).

Following work at a Budapest beer factory (1943-1945) and at the American University of Beirut (1945-1948), Mommaerts immigrated to the United States in 1948 to continue his research at Duke University School of Medicine (1948-1953) and Western Reserve University School of Medicine (1953-1956). In 1956, he became Professor of Medicine and Physiology at UCLA, directing the Los Angeles County Heart Association Research Library and later chairing the School of Medicine's Department of Physiology from 1966 until his retirement in 1987. Mommaerts' work helped Los Angeles become a recognized center for heart surgery and science. Through his research on cardiovascular function and disease, Mommaerts changed the emphasis of physiological research on the heart and helped develop the understanding that the organ functions as a muscle and not merely a pump. Mommaerts died in Los Angeles on February 2, 1994 at age 76.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Edina Weinstein, 1997.
Processing information:

Processed by Russell A. Johnson, 1997. Additional materials processed by Angel Diaz, 2017.

Arrangement:

This collection has been arranged in the following series.

  • Series 1: Biographical files, 1943-1991
  • Series 2: UCLA Department of Physiology, 1991
  • Series 3: Correspondence, 1987-1991
  • Series 4: Human Physiology from Cellular Mechanism to Integration, 1985-1991
  • Series 5: Miscellaneous publications, 1989-1991
  • Series 6: Autobiography manuscript, 1986

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], W.F.H.M. Mommaerts papers (Collection 394). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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