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.

To cite this section
MLA style: William S. Knowles – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Wed. 30 Nov 2022. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2001/knowles/facts/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Nobel Prizes and laureates

Nobel Prizes 2022

Fourteen laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2022, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.

Their work and discoveries range from paleogenomics and click chemistry to documenting war crimes.

See them all presented here.
Nobel Prizes 2022

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.

Play a game!

The Chirality Game

Chiral objects, like left and right hands, cannot be superimposed on its mirror image. Find other ‘chiral’ objects in this game.

Chirality game