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Arthur Harden

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Arthur Harden
Born(1865-10-12)12 October 1865
Died17 June 1940(1940-06-17) (aged 74)
NationalityUnited Kingdom
Alma materUniversity of Manchester master,
University of Erlangen phd
Known forthe chemistry of the yeast cell
AwardsNobel Prize in Chemistry (1929)
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
Doctoral advisorOtto Fischer

Sir Arthur Harden (12 October 1865 – 17 June 1940) was an English biochemist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1929 with Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin for their investigations into the fermentation of sugar and fermentative enzymes.

Biography

Early years

Harden was born on in Manchester to Albert Tyas Harden and Eliza Macalister. He was educated at a private school and at Tettenhall College, Staffordshire, and entered Owens College in the University of Manchester in 1882, graduating in 1885.

Research

In 1886 Harden was awarded the Dalton Scholarship in Chemistry and spent a year working with Otto Fischer at Erlangen. He returned to Manchester as lecturer and demonstrator, and remained there until 1897 when he was appointed chemist to the newly founded British Institute of Preventive Medicine, which later became the Lister Institute. In 1907 he was appointed Head of the Biochemical Department, a position which he held until his retirement in 1930 (though he continued his scientific work at the Institute after his retirement).

At Manchester Harden had studied the action of light on mixtures of carbon dioxide and chlorine, and when he entered the Institute he applied his methods to the investigation of biological phenomena such as the chemical action of bacteria and alcoholic fermentation. He studied the breakdown products of glucose and the chemistry of the yeast cell, and produced a series of papers on the antiscorbutic and antineuritic vitamins.

Harden was knighted in 1926, and received several honorary doctorates. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he received the Davy Medal in 1935.

Personal life

He was married with no children. His wife died in 1928, and Sir Arthur died at his home in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire on 17 June 1940.

References

  • Hopkins, Frederick Gowland (1942). "Arthur Harden. 1865-1940". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 4 (11): 2–14. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1942.0001. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Manchester, Keith L. (2000). "Biochemistry comes of age: a century of endeavour". Endeavour. 24 (1): 22–7. doi:10.1016/S0160-9327(99)01224-7. PMID 10824440. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Manchester, Keith L. (2000). "Arthur Harden: an unwitting pioneer of metabolic control analysis". Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 25 (2): 89–92. doi:10.1016/S0968-0004(99)01528-5. PMID 10664590. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

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