Nobel Prizes 1910

- Sanket Shah

1910 Nobel prizes

• Physics - Johannes Diderik van der Waals

– "for his work on the equation of state for gases and liquids“

• Chemistry - Otto Wallach

– “in recognition of his services to organic chemistry and the chemical industry by his pioneer work in the field of alicyclic compounds”

• Literature - Paul Johann Ludwig Heyse

1910 Medicine / Physiology

Albrecht Kossel

Germany

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg, Germany

Birth 1853Death 1927

"in recognition of the contributions to our knowledge of cell chemistry made through his work on proteins, including the nucleic substances"

Albrecht Kossel - Biography

• Albrecht Kossel was an honorary doctor of the Universities of Cambridge, Dublin, Ghent, Greifswald, St. Andrews and Edinburgh, and a member of various Academies, among which are the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of Sciences of Uppsala.

• Kossel's field of work was physiological chemistry, especially the chemistry of tissues and cells.

• He began his investigations into the constitution of the cell nucleus at the end of the seventies, and in the nineties he turned more and more to the study of the proteins.

Earlier Researches

• Berzilius 100 years ago gave new direction to the branch of chemical research which was at that time called animal chemistry and which is now usually termed physiological chemistry.

• Professor Kossel spent more than 25 years to study on path he mapped out.

Work done by Professor Kossel

• The cells – smallest independent units of living organism.

• The development of protein chemistry and specialized knowledge about protein bodies occurring in cell was the main research area of professor Kossel.

• He carried out extensive work on protein breakdown products.

Work Done Contd...

• Kossel carried out extensive work on Protamines.

• Histones – Protein group that stands between protamines and normal proteins.

• He made extensive studies on protein compounds.

• He remarked the presence of nucleic acid in cells and their relationship with proteins.

Conclusion

• This was brief and incomplete sketch of Professor Kossel’s valuable contribution to the knowledge of cell chemistry.

• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work and study of the chemistry of the very basic constituents of the body – the cells.