FROM SALIVA TO CAMELS. THE FIRST DOCTOR OF ODONTOLOGY IN DENMARK
In 1946, Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen was the first Dane to achieve the scientific degree Doctor of Odontology. She was only 27 years old and the mother of two children. Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen seemed almost predestined to a scientific career. Both parents were active researchers with doctorates, and her father, August Krogh, was a Nobel laureate in physiology. Already as a dental student Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen participated in research projects in the fields of dentistry and physiology, and her doctoral thesis was a comprehensive method study that investigated new and more precise methods to measure pH and contents of calcium and phosphorus in saliva. A short time after defending her thesis, Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen moved to the US and engaged herself in studies on metabolism and kidney physiology in mammals, reptiles and fish. This line of work was widely recognized, and when Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen died in 2015, she was a highly esteemed zoophysiologist.