Detlev Wulf Bronk was a prominent American scientist, educator, and administrator. He is credited with establishing biophysicsas a recognized discipline. He was born on August 13, 1897 in New York City. Bronk graduated from Swarthmore in 1920 and earned his PhD at the University of Michigan in 1926. In 1928 he was a Professor of Physiology and Physics at Swarthmore and in 1929 he began his distinguished career at the University of Pennsylvania where he served as the Johnson Professor of Biophysics, the Director of the Eldridge Reeves Johnson Foundation for Medical Physics, and the Director of the Institute of Neurology. He received the National Medal  Of Science in 1968. He died on November 17, 1975 (aged 78) in New York City.