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biography
| name: |
Szent-Györgyi, Albert (von Nagyrapolt)
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pronunciation:
[sent dyoordyee]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1893–1986)
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| biography:
| Biochemist, born in Budapest, Hungary. Trained as an anatomist, he worked at several European institutions, publishing studies of bacteriology and quantum mechanics before concentrating on biochemistry. He won the 1937 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the oxidation-preventing action of vitamin C, which he termed ascorbic acid. He also discovered the controversial vitamin P, plant pigments that reduce capillary fragility and protect against radiation damage. Harassed because of his anti-Nazi activities, he was granted protective citizenship at the Swedish embassy in Hungary. He refused the presidency of Hungary, emigrating to the USA in 1947 because of his dislike of post-war Soviet dominance of his native country. He joined the Marine Biology Laboratories at Woods Hole, MA (1947–86), and founded its Institute for Muscle Research (1947). There he continued research on heart muscle based on his 1940 discovery of the contractile muscle protein, actomyosin, and concurrently served the National Foundation for Cancer Research (1980–6). He wrote several books and over 200 scientific papers, and was actively opposed to the Vietnam War. |
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