Fritz Albert Lipmann | |
|---|---|
%2c_Biochemist_(2551001689).jpg) | |
| Born | (1899-06-12)June 12, 1899 |
| Died | July 24, 1986(1986-07-24) (aged 87) Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | Fritz Lippmann |
| Education | |
| Known for | Co-discoverer in 1945 ofcoenzyme A |
| Spouse | Elfreda M. Hall Lipmann (m. 1931) |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry |
| Institutions | |
Fritz Albert Lipmann (German pronunciation:[fʁɪtsˈʔalbɛʁtˈlɪpman]ⓘ; June 12, 1899 – July 24, 1986) was a German-Americanbiochemist and a co-discoverer in 1945 ofcoenzyme A. For this, together with other research on coenzyme A, he was awarded theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953 (shared withHans Adolf Krebs).[1]
Lipmann was born inKönigsberg, Germany, to aJewish family. His parents were Gertrud (Lachmanski) and Leopold Lipmann, an attorney.[2]
Lipmann studied medicine at theUniversity of Königsberg,Berlin, andMunich, graduating in Berlin in 1924. He returned to Königsberg to study chemistry under ProfessorHans Meerwein. In 1926 he joinedOtto Meyerhof at theKaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology,Dahlem, Berlin, for his doctoral thesis.[3] After that he followed Meyerhof toHeidelberg to theKaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research.
From 1939 on, Lipmann lived and worked in the United States. He was a Research Associate in the Department of Biochemistry,Cornell University Medical College, New York from 1939 to 1941. He joined the research staff of theMassachusetts General Hospital in Boston in 1941, first as a Research Associate in the Department of Surgery, then heading his own group in the Biochemical Research Laboratory of the hospital. From 1949 to 1957 he was professor ofbiological chemistry atHarvard Medical School. From 1957 onwards, he taught and conducted research atRockefeller University,New York City.
In 1953, Lipmann received one half of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine "for his discovery of co-enzyme A and its importance for intermediary metabolism." The other half of the award was won byHans Adolf Krebs.[4] Lipmann was awarded theNational Medal of Science in 1966. He would try to dive further into his discovery by finding a variant of co-enzyme A, now known asPantethine. He was an elected member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences,[5] the United StatesNational Academy of Sciences,[6] and theAmerican Philosophical Society.[7]
Lipmann introduced the specific squiggle designation (~) to indicate high energy-rich phosphate in energy-rich biomolecules likeATP in his essay "Metabolic Generation and Utilization of Phosphate Bond Energy."[8] Of his work, he said "that in the field of biosynthesis we have a rare example of progress leading to simplification."[9]
In 1931, Lipmann married Elfreda M. Hall. They had one son.[2] Lipmann died in New York in 1986.The photo showsMary Soames, not Elfreda Hall Lipmann[10] His widow died in 2008 at the age of 101.
