William Knowles

Facts

William S. Knowles

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

William S. Knowles
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2001

Born: 1 June 1917, Taunton, MA, USA

Died: 13 June 2012, Chesterfield, MO, USA

Prize motivation: “for their work on chirally catalysed hydrogenation reactions”

Prize share: 1/4

Work

Many molecules appear in two different reversed forms that have different chemical and biological effects. Through special catalysts—substances that facilitate chemical reactions without being consumed in them—it is possible to bring about a process in which only one of the reversed forms is produced. In 1968 William Knowles discovered that certain metals had this effect during hydrogenation—reactions in which hydrogen gas is added to a chemical compound. Among other things, this enabled production of L-dopa medication to treat Parkinson’s disease.

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