Hoorweg-Weiss Curve (J. L. Hoorweg, 1841-1919, Dutch Biophysicist; O. Weiss, Born 1871, German Physiologist)

Gorwega-Weiss Curve

The Horweg-Weiss curve is named after the Dutch biophysicist Jan Ludwig Horweg (1841-1919) and the German physiologist Otto Weiss (b. 1871).

This curve is also known as the Weiss curve, named after Otto Weiss, who first described it in 1901. The curve demonstrates the dependence of the degree of saturation of hemoglobin with oxygen on the partial pressure of oxygen.

Weiss discovered that this relationship is nonlinear - at low oxygen partial pressures the degree of saturation increases sharply, and at higher oxygen levels the curve reaches a plateau. This shape of the curve is explained by the cooperative interaction of hemoglobin subunits when binding oxygen.

The Horweg-Weiss curve is fundamental to understanding the transport and delivery of oxygen by hemoglobin in humans and animals. It is widely used in respiratory physiology and clinical medicine.