Arthur L. Tatum became a full professor in the University of Wisconsin department of pharmacology and toxicology in 1928, and was associated with that institution until his death on November 11, 1955. Tatum was born on a farm in Sac County, Iowa May 17, 1884, and attended school in West Branch, Iowa. He received a BS degree at Penn College, Iowa in 1905, and an MS at the State University of Iowa in 1907. He then attained a post as instructor in chemistry at the University of Colorado from 1907-1910; from 1911-1913 he was instructor in pharmacology at the University of Wisconsin. Tatum received his Ph.D from the University of Chicago in 1913, and an MD from Rush Medical College in the next year. He then held successive positions as an instructor of physiology at the University of Pennsylvania (1914-1916), professor of physiology at the University of South Dakota (1916-1918), and assistant professor of pharmacology and physics at the University of Chicago (1918-1925). In 1925 he accepted an associate professorship at Wisconsin, and three years later became a full professor.
Tatum did early research on the thyroid gland, and then turned to a study of cocaine overdosage, experimenting with the effectiveness of barbiturates as antidotes. He proved picrotoxin was a good antidote for barbiturate overdosage, and the drug is still used widely as treatment for overdosage of sleeping pills. Tatum then carried on research with narcotic drugs, establishing the physiological basis of addiction.
At Wisconsin, Tatum continued the work on chemotherapy of syphilis initiated by a predecessor. Tatum demonstrated that the compound mapharsen ( m eta a mino p ara h ydroxyl p henyl a rsenoside) was greatly effective in treatment of the disease. Mepharsen remained the drug of choice in the treatment of early syphilis until the discovery of antibiotics. In his later years, Tatum became quite interested in the chemotherapy of malaria.
For a brief biographical sketch of Tatum, see Science, 123:449 (May 16, 1956).
