Ernst Chain
Sir Ernst Boris Chain | |
---|---|
Born | Berlin, Germany | 19 June 1906
Died | 12 August 1979 Castlebar, Ireland | (aged 73)
Citizenship | German (until 1939) British (from 1939) |
Alma mater | Friedrich Wilhelm University |
Known for | The development of Penicillin |
Spouse | Anne Beloff-Chain (m. 1948–1979, his death) |
Children | Benjamin and Danny[1] |
Awards | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1945) Fellow of the Royal Society (1948) Knight Bachelor(1969) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biochemistry |
Institutions | Imperial College London University of Cambridge University of Oxford Istituto Superiore di Sanità |
Sir Ernst Boris Chain, FRS[2] (19 June 1906 – 12 August 1979) was a German-born British biochemist.[3]
He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with Alexander Fleming and Howard Florey, for the discovery of penicillin and how it could cure bacterial infections.[4] Later he worked on the chemical structure of penicillin and other natural antibiotics.
Chain was Jewish, and moved to England in 1933. In 1939 he took British citizenship, and was knighted in 1969.
He won many awards: he was made a Commander of the Légion d'Honneur and awarded the Grande Ufficiale al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.
Life and career
[change | change source]Chain was born in Berlin, the son of Margarete (née Eisner) and Michael Chain, who was a chemist and industrialist dealing in chemical products.[5][6] His family was Jewish. His father emigrated from Russia to study chemistry abroad and his mother was from Berlin.[7] In 1930, he received his degree in chemistry from Friedrich Wilhelm University. He left Nazi Germany and worked at universities and laboratories in England.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ New Scientist. Reed Business Information. 16 January 1986. p. 51. ISSN 0262-4079.[permanent dead link]
- ↑ Abraham, Edward (1983). "Ernst Boris Chain. 19 June 1906-12 August 1979". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 29: 42–91. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1983.0003. JSTOR 769796. S2CID 58175504.
- ↑ "Biography of Ernst Chain". The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
- ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1945". The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
- ↑ "Ernst B. Chain". nobelprize.org. 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- ↑ Forder, Arderne A. (1984). The more ye mow us down the more we grow: antibiotics in perspective. University of Cape Town. ISBN 9780799209501.
- ↑ Oakes, Elizabeth H. (2002). Chain, Sir Ernst Boris (1906–1979) German/English Biochemist. Infobase. ISBN 9781438109251. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
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Bibliography
[change | change source]- Medawar, Jean: Pyke, David (2012). Hitler's Gift: The True Story of the Scientists Expelled by the Nazi Regime (Paperback). New York: Arcade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61145-709-4.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Other websites
[change | change source]- "Ernst B. Chain – Biographical". nobelprize.org.
- Weintraub, B. (August 2003). "Ernst Boris Chain (1906–1979) and Penicillin". Chemistry in Israel (13). Israel Chemical Society: 29–32.
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winners
- 1906 births
- 1979 deaths
- British biochemists
- British Nobel Prize winners
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- German biochemists
- Jewish British academics
- Jewish British scientists
- Jewish German scientists
- Jewish Nobel Prize winners
- Knights Bachelor
- Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
- German Nobel Prize winners