Hugo Theorell | |
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| Born | (1903-07-06)6 July 1903 |
| Died | 15 August 1982(1982-08-15) (aged 79) |
| Awards | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1955) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry |
Axel Hugo Theodor TheorellForMemRS[1] (6 July 1903 – 15 August 1982) was aSwedish scientist andNobel Prize laureate[2][3][4][5][6][7] in medicine.[8][9]
He was born inLinköping as the son of Thure Theorell and his wife Armida Bill. Theorell went to Secondary School atKatedralskolan in Linköping and passed his examination there on 23 May 1921. In September, he began to study medicine at theKarolinska Institute and in 1924 he graduated as a Bachelor of Medicine. He then spent three months studyingbacteriology at thePasteur Institute inParis under ProfessorAlbert Calmette. In 1930 he obtained his M.D. degree with a theory on the lipids of the blood plasma, and was appointed professor in physiological chemistry at the Karolinska Institute.
Theorell, who dedicated his entire career to enzyme research, received theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1955 for discoveringoxidoreductase enzymes and their effects. His contribution also consisted of the theory of the toxic effects of sodium fluoride on the cofactors of crucial human enzymes. In 1936 he was appointed Head of the newly established Biochemical Department of the Nobel Medical Institute,[10] the first researcher related to the Institute to be awarded a Nobel Prize. His work had led to pioneering progress onalcohol dehydrogenases, enzymes that break down alcohol in the liver and other tissues. He received honorary degrees at universities inFrance,Belgium,Brazil and theUnited States. He was a member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences and the United StatesNational Academy of Sciences,[11][12] and an International Member of theAmerican Philosophical Society.[13]
Theorell died in Stockholm and is interred inNorra begravningsplatsen (The Northern Cemetery) alongside his wife, Elin Margit Elisabeth (née Alenius) Theorell, a distinguished pianist and harpsichordist who died in 2002.
including the Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1955The Nature and Mode of Action of Oxidation Enzymes| Chemistry |
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