Notable and Anniversary Dates in Biochemistry for 1997

N. P. Voskresenskaya,¹ R. S. Rabinovich,¹ and V. Ya. Shelagina¹

¹Department of History of Medicine and Public Health, Semashko Institute of Social Hygiene, Economics, and Public Health Administration, ul. Obukha 12, Moscow, 103064 Russia.

60th Anniversary of the Journal Biokhimya

300th anniversary of Experientiae, Observationis, Animadvertionis Chimicae et Physicae (Experiments, Observations, and Remarks on Chemistry and Physics, G. E. Stahl, 1697-1703).

300th anniversary of Pharmacopée Universelle (Universal Pharmacopoeia, N. Lémery, 1697).

200th anniversary of Pharmacology or Description of Medicines for Imperial Russian Land Forces (I. G. Ellizen, 1797).

150th anniversary of the synthesis of nitroglycerin (A. Sobrero, 1846-1847).

125th anniversary of the first formulation and publication of the enzymatic theory of blood coagulation (A. Schmidt, 1872-1876).

125th anniversary of the development of the immersion microscope (E. Abbe, 1872).

125th anniversary of the isolation of the plant protein gliadine (H. Ritthausen, 1872).

100th anniversary of the development of the peroxide theory of slow oxidation and cell respiration (A. N. Bakh, 1897).

100th anniversary of the discovery of so-called neutral hematin and the measurement of its spectrum (P. A. Minakov, 1897).

100th anniversary of the determination of heme chemical structure and the demonstration of relationship between hemoglobin and chlorophyll (M. Nencki, 1897).

100th anniversary of the isolation of the enzyme zymase from yeast (E. Buchner, H. Buchner, 1897).

100th anniversary of the development of lateral chain theory to explain the phenomena of immunity (P. Ehrlich, 1897).

100th anniversary of the syntheses of caffeine, theobromine, xanthine, guanidine, and adenine (E. Fisher, 1897).

100th anniversary of On the Role of Peroxides in the Processes of Slow Oxidation (A. N. Bakh, 1897).

100th anniversary of On Biological Relationships between the Stain of Leaves and Blood (M. V. Nencki, 1897).

100th anniversary of Pharmaceutical Work (Moscow, 1897-1909; from 1897 to 1906, Pharmaceutical Herald).

75th anniversary of the discovery of vitamin E (H. M. Evans, 1922).

75th anniversary of the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme (A. Fleming, 1922).

75th anniversary of the detection of methionine in casein (J. A. Mueller, 1922).

75th anniversary of the establishment of human diploid chromosome set (48 chromosomes) (T. S. Painter, 1922).

75th anniversary of Chemical Composition of Living Substance in Connection with the Chemistry of the Earth's Crust (V. I. Vernadskii, 1922).

75th anniversary of The Journal of Biochemistry (Japan, 1922).

60th anniversary of Biokhimiya/Biochemistry (Moscow), founded by A. N. Bakh in 1936.

50th anniversary the isolation of natural levomycetin (1947).

50th anniversary the detection in animal muscles of the previously unknown enzyme amylose isomerase (IA-enzyme; A. N. Petrova, 1947).

50th anniversary of the isolation of serotonin (M. Repport, A. Green, and J. Page, 1947).

50th anniversary of the separation of the protein and nucleic components of tobacco mosaic virus, and the demonstration that virulence is related to viral DNA (G. Schramn, 1947).

50th anniversary of the synthesis of muscle adenylic acid (A. Todd, 1947).

50th anniversary of Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (The Netherlands, 1947).

50th anniversary of The Journal of Antibiotics (Tokyo, Japan, 1947).

25th anniversary of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (Washington, USA, 1972).

25th anniversary of Biologische Medizin (Baden-Baden, Germany, 1972).

25th anniversary of Cell Differentiation (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1972).

January 9 - 75th anniversary of the birth of H. G. Khorana (1922), American biochemist, Indian by birth, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of USA (1966), and Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1971). His most noted works were devoted to the syntheses of coenzymes, nucleotides, and nucleic acids. He was one of the first to study the chemical nature of nucleic acid; he synthesized the gene encoding for alanine transport RNA (1967-1970). He won the 1968 Nobel Prize (jointly with Robert W. Holley and Marshall W. Nirenberg) for interpretation of the genetic code and its functions in protein synthesis. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia and Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

January 27 - 150th anniversary of the birth of Markel (Martselii) Vilgelmovich Nencki (1847-1901), Russian biochemist and microbiologist, Polish by birth. From 1891 he lived and worked in Petersburg, where he organized and headed the Chemistry Department at the Institute of Experimental Medicine. He contributed to investigation of the biochemical role of organic compounds of different classes in animals. When working together with I. P. Pavlov in Petersburg, he revealed the important role of liver in neutralization of ammonia and formation of urea. He synthesized indigo (from indole), isolated pure hemin from blood and determined its elementary formula, and demonstrated the common character of structural elements of hemoglobin and chlorophyll. The Institute of Experimental Biology in Warsaw is named after him. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia and Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

January 28 - 75th anniversary of the birth of Robert William Holley (1922), American biochemist, Member of the National Academy of Sciences of USA. He developed the methods of isolation of pure preparations of individual transport ribonucleic acids (tRNA) that formed the basis for determination of their chemical structure. He determined the structure of yeast alanine tRNA (1965). His works formed the basis for the further studies of primary and secondary structures of tRNA and development of the present knowledge of the mechanism of protein synthesis. He won the 1968 Nobel Prize (jointly with H. G. Khorana and Marshall W. Nirenberg) for the interpretation of genetic code and its functions in protein synthesis. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia and Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

February 3 - 75th anniversary of the death of Vladimir Ivanovich Palladin (1859-1922, born in Moscow), Russian botanist and biochemist, Academician of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences, father of A. V. Palladin, biochemist, Academician of the Academy of Sciences and Academy of Medical Sciences (1885-1972), student of K. A. Timiryazev and I. N. Gorozhankin. One of the authors of the theory of plant respiration as a complex of enzymatic processes exerted by a system of oxidases and dehydrogenases. The works of V. I. Palladin made the basis for the present theory of biological oxidation. A number of his studies were devoted to investigation of formation of enzymes and coordination of their action. He founded the Russian school of plant physiologists and biochemists. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Second and Third Editions.

March 23 - 90th anniversary of the birth of Daniel Bovet (1907), Italian physiologist, chemist and neuropharmacologist, professor of the University of Rome. From 1932 to 1947 he worked in the Pasteur Institute in Paris. He was one of the first to discover the mechanism of antibacterial action of sulfanilamide preparations. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for studies on the syntheses of antihistaminic and curare-like medicines. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

March 24 - 80th anniversary of the birth of John Cowdery Kendrew (1917), British biochemist, Member of the Royal Society (1960). He made a contribution to the interpretation of the structure of protein molecules by X-ray analysis. He determined the molecular structure of hemoglobin and myoglobin (1957). He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (jointly with Max Ferdinand Perutz) for investigation of the structure of globular proteins. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Molecular Biology. Bibliography and literature: see Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Cholakov, B., Nobel Prizes, Mir, Moscow, 1986.

March 29 - 75th anniversary of the birth of George Weber (1922), American biochemist, Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (1988), Associate Member of the Academy of Tiberia (Italy). He is the head of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Experimental Oncology of School of Medicine at the University of Indiana (Indianapolis). One of the leading specialists in the field of comparative biochemical studies of the properties and activities of a broad spectrum of enzymes in organs and tissues of the body in normalcy and with malignancies. His scientific works are devoted to biochemistry, pharmacology, and experimental oncology. He is the editor-in-chief of the edition Advances in Enzyme Regulation, and the organizer of annual symposia on the problem Advances in Enzyme Regulation. Bibliography: G. Weber et al., Rapid Method for Serum Lipase Determination (1949) Medical J., 16, 1-5; Enzymes of Purine Metabolism in Cancer (1992) Progr. Clin. Enzymol., 2. Literature: Who’s Who in America, 1992-1993, New York, 1992.

March 29 - 70th anniversary of the birth of John Robert Vane (1927), British biochemist, pharmacologist, Member of the Royal Society (1974). Ninety five years after the beginning of aspirin production, he discovered the mechanism of its action, the blockade of synthesis of certain prostaglandins exerting harmful effects in the body. He won the 1982 Nobel Prize (jointly with Sune Karl Bergström and Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson) for work on isolation and investigation of prostaglandins and related biologically active substances. Literature: Nobel Prizes in 1982 (1983) Priroda, No. 1, 96; Cholakov, B., Nobel Prizes, Mir, Moscow, 1986.

April 10 - 70th anniversary of the birth of Marshall Warren Nirenberg (1927), American biochemist, geneticist, Member of the National Academy of Sciences of USA (1967). He determined the composition and the sequence of nucleotides in the triplets coding the incorporation of all the 20 amino acids into the polypeptide chain of a protein molecule during its synthesis. He suggested the methodical procedures that were used for the interpretation of chemical nature of practically all the codons. He was awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize (jointly with H. G. Khorana and Robert W. Holley) for the discovery and interpretation of genetic code. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition, and Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

April 30 - 80th anniversary of the birth of Seimoor Stanley Cohen (1917), American biochemist. He developed the methods of isolation and fractionation of proteins and enzymes, and determination of their molecular masses. He first constructed functionally active molecules of hybrid DNA (with co-authors). He obtained in vitro the plasmid pSC101 controlling the resistance of bacteria to tetracycline. From a patient suffering from acquired hemolytic anemia, he obtained (in 1956, with co-authors) cold antibodies, which were used to detect in human erythrocytes the "J" antigen. Bibliography: Introduction to the Polyamines, New York, 1971; Virus-Induced Enzyme, New York, 1968. Literature: World Who’s Who in Science, Chicago, 1968.

May 14 - 125th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Semenovich Tsvet (1872-1919, born in Italy), Russian botanist, plant physiologist and biochemist. From 1897 to 1902 he worked in Petersburg Biological Laboratory of P. F. Lesgaft. His main scientific works are devoted to the study of plant pigments and development of methods of their investigation. He developed the method of chromatographic adsorption analysis (1903) widely used in biochemical, clinical and diagnostic, pharmaceutical, sanitary and hygienic, and other studies. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Second and Third Editions; Senchenkova, E. M., M. S. Tsvet [in Russian], Moscow, 1973.

May 16 - 50th anniversary of the death of Frederick Gowland Hopkins (1861-1947), British biochemist. He developed the titrometric method of detection of uric acid (1891-1893). He discovered and isolated tryptophan (in 1903, together with S. W. Cole). He isolated and studied the structure and properties of glutathione and its role in biological oxidation of certain compounds (1921-1923). He was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize (jointly with Christiaan Eÿkman) for the studies on growth-stimulating vitamins. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia and Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

June 19 - 100th anniversary of the birth of Cyril Norman Hinshelwood (1897-1967), British biochemist, President of London Royal Society (1955-1960), Foreign Member of the Academy of Sciences of USSR (1958). His main studies were devoted to chain reactions. He made a great contribution to investigations of kinetics of decomposition of inorganic and organic substances, growth of bacteria in various media, adaptation of bacteria to media, dependence of cell growth rate on the content in the environment of carbon dioxide, amino acids, etc. He was awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (jointly with N. N. Semenov) for the work Chemical Kinetics of Bacterial Cell published in 1946. Bibliography and literature: Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Cholakov, B., Nobel Prizes, Mir, Moscow, 1986.

July 15 - 125th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Konstantinovich Kol’tsov (1872-1940, born in Moscow), Russian biologist, Associate Member of Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Honored Scientist, founder of experimental biology in Russia, organizer and Director of the Institute of Experimental Biology (1917-1938), professor of the First Moscow University (1918-1924). His scientific works were devoted to comparative anatomy of vertebrates, experimental cytology, physicochemical biology, and genetics. He studied the hereditary chemical properties of human and animal blood. He was the first to develop the hypothesis of molecular structure and template-directed replication of chromosomes ("hereditary molecules") which anticipated the most basic statements of present day molecular biology and genetics (1928). He was the founder of journals Uspekhi Eksperimental’noi Biologii (Advances in Experimental Biology) (1922-1929), Zhurnal Eksperimental’noi Biologii (Journal of Experimental Biology) (1925-1931), and Biologicheskii Zhurnal (Biological Journal) (1932-1938). Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia and Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Astaurov, B. L., and Rokitskii, P. F., N. K. Kol’tsov [in Russian], Nauka, Moscow, 1975; Veselkova, N. A., et al., Nikolai Konstantinovich Kol’tsov: 1872-1940. Bibliography [in Russian], Moscow, 1976; Rokitskii, P. F., Outstanding Soviet Geneticists [in Russian], Moscow, 1980, pp. 49-56.

July 20 - 100th anniversary of the birth of Tadeus Reichstein (1897-?), Swiss biochemist, Polish by birth, pharmacologist, endocrinologist. Member of Swiss Academy of Medicine (1951) and London Royal Society (1952). He made a contribution to the studies of structure and properties of sugars, vitamins, steroids, and cardiac glucosides contained in plants. He was the first to isolate and to describe hydrocortisone (1937) and to determine the chemical structure of cortisone (1938). At the same time, with E. Kendall he independently isolated corticosterone (1937) and performed its synthesis (1944). He won the 1950 Nobel Prize for the study of hormones of adrenal cortex (jointly with Edward C. Kendall and Philip S. Hench). Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia and Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

July 22 - 75th anniversary of the death of J. Takamine (1854-1922), Japanese biochemist. He independently isolated (1901) a crystalline preparation of active substance from cortical part of the adrenal glands and called it "adrenalin". Bibliography: The Production of Diastase by Microscopic Plants, Dantburry, 1898. Literature: Saksonov, P. P., The History of Detection and Investigation of Adrenalin (1950) Farmakol. Toksikol., 13, 62-64; Biograf. Lekxikon Hervorrag Arzte, Bd. 2, Berlin, Wien, 1922; Obituary (1922) Lancet, Aug., 5, 11, 303; Great Medical Encyclopedia, Second Edition, Vol. 1, p. 253.

August 13 - 125th anniversary of the birth of Richard Willstätter (1872-1942), German organic chemist and biochemist, Member of Prussian Academy of Sciences, Foreign Member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of USSR. He determined the structural formulae of cocaine and atropine, and the nature of chlorophyll, and studied the structure of the blood pigment hemin. He developed and advanced the method of enzyme purification by their adsorption and following elution. His views on the two-component structure of enzymes were of significant importance in developing of the problems of general enzymology. He was awarded the 1915 Nobel Prize for the investigation of the stains of plant origin (mainly chlorophyll). Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia and Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

August 21 - 125th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Vasil’evich Stepanov (1872-1946), Russian organic chemist, the founder of forensic chemistry in the country, Doctor of Biology, Professor and Honored Scientist. He organized (1920) the first in the country Department of Forensic Chemistry of Chemical-Pharmaceutical School at the Second Moscow State University (presently, Russian Medical University) and led it till 1930. He was the organizer and the head (1922-1946) of the Department of Organic Chemistry at Moscow University, one of the initiators of organization of Moscow Pharmaceutical Institute, and the author of scientific works on organic, forensic, criminalistic, and industrial-sanitary chemistry. He developed the method of oxidation of organic compounds by sulfuric acid and ammonium nitrate, rapid method of isolation of alkaloids from materials of plant origin, and micromethod of mercury detection. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

October 2 - 80th anniversary of the birth of Christian De Duve (1917), Belgian biochemist, Member of Belgian Academy of Sciences and Royal Academy of Medicine. He is the founder of the theory of lysosomes as permanent universal cell components with certain structure and functions (1964) which participate in physiological and pathological processes proceeding in cells (1965-1968). He contributed to the investigation of the biochemistry of insulin used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, and glucagon. He won the 1974 Nobel Prize (jointly with George Palade and Albert Claude) for the studies on structure and functional activity of cells. Bibliography and literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia and Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition.

October 2 - 90th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Robert Todd (1907), British biochemist, President of the Royal Biochemical Society (from 1975). His main works, on the chemistry of nucleotides and nucleic acids, made the basis of the present knowledge of structure and synthesis of chemical compounds of this type. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies on nucleotides and nucleotide coenzymes. He is known for the studies of vitamins and certain other biologically active natural compounds. Bibliography and literature: Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Cholakov, B., Nobel Prizes, Mir, Moscow, 1986.

October 8 - 70th anniversary of the birth of Cesar Milstein (1927, born in Argentina), British immunologist and biochemist. From 1961 he worked in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. He contributed to the investigation of primary structure of immunoglobulins, obtaining of hybrid cells resulting from the fusion of lymphocytes, cloning of hybrid cells and their long-term culture. He was awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize (jointly with Niels K. Jerne and Georges J. F. Köhler) for the outstanding achievements in immunology. Literature: Nobel Prizes in 1984 (1985) Priroda, No. 1, 99-100.

November 17 - 75th anniversary of the birth of Stanley Cohen (1922), American biochemist, Member of the National Academy of USA. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize (jointly with Rita Levi-Montalcini) for fundamental research on interpretation of the mechanisms regulating the growth of cells and organs. Literature: Nobel Prizes in 1986 (1987) Priroda, No. 1.

December 31 - 25th anniversary of the death of Andrei Nikolaevich Belozerskii (1905-1972, born in Tashkent), Russian biochemist, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of USSR, Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences of USSR (1971-1972). From 1946 to 1960 he was the head of a laboratory at the Bakh Institute of Biochemistry. From 1965 to 1972 he was director of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry at Moscow State University (presently, Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology of Moscow State University). His main scientific works were devoted to studies in chemistry and biochemistry of nucleic acids. In 1957 he predicted (together with A. S. Spirin) the finding of messenger RNA. He first detected non-alkaline proteins among nucleoproteins. A number of his studies were devoted to investigation of the composition and biochemical functions of substructures of microorganism cells, structure and nucleotide sequence of DNA molecules, biological role of polyphosphates, etc. Bibliography: see Great Medical Encyclopedia and Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition; Molecular Biology--a New Step in the Knowledge of Nature [in Russian], Sovetskaya Rossiya, Moscow, 1970; Biochemistry of Nucleic Acids and Nucleoproteins: Selected Works [in Russian], Nauka, Moscow, 1976. Literature: see Great Medical Encyclopedia and Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Third Edition; A. N. Belozerskii (1973) Biokhimiya, No. 1, 1-2; Mel’gunov, V. I., About A. N. Belozerskii (1981) Biol. Nauki, No. 10, 107-112; Spirin, A. S., A Rare Man and Scientist (1985) Vestnik AN SSSR, No. 8, 127-132.

125th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Stepanovich Butkevich (1872-1942), Russian botanist-physiologist and biochemist, Professor, Associate Member of the Academy of Sciences of USSR. He was a disciple of K. A. Timiryazev and D. N. Pryanishnikov. He is the author of classic works on the transformation of protein substances in plants. He is noted for studies on the chemistry of formation and further transformation of organic acids in plants, etc. Bibliography and literature: see Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Second Edition; Fedorov, M. V., Life and Scientific Activity of Professor V. S. Butkevich (1945) Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR. Ser. Biol., No. 5, 501-513.

---