Richard Kuhn
Facts
Photo supplied by archiv zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Geschellschaft, Berlin-Dahlem
Richard Kuhn
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1938
Born: 3 December 1900, Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria)
Died: 31 July 1967, Heidelberg, West Germany (now Germany)
Affiliation at the time of the award: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut (now Max-Planck Institut) für Medizinische Forschung, Heidelberg, Germany; University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Prize motivation: “for his work on carotenoids and vitamins”
Richard Kuhn received his Nobel Prize one year later, in 1939.
Prize share: 1/1
Work
Carotene, a substance found in carrots and elsewhere, constitutes a building block in vitamin A, which is necessary for the body to grow. After identifying two different types of carotene along with other researchers, Richard Kuhn was able to establish the existence of a third type in 1933. Kuhn also conducted important research into related substances called carotenoids. His development of chromatographic techniques was important in the isolation and pure production of substances. Kuhn also carried out important work with vitamins B2 and B6.
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