Edward A. Doisy
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Edward Adelbert Doisy
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1943
Born: 13 November 1893, Hume, IL, USA
Died: 23 October 1986, St. Louis, MO, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA
Prize motivation: “for his discovery of the chemical nature of vitamin K”
Edward Doisy received his Nobel Prize one year later, in 1944.
Prize share: 1/2
Work
In addition to carbohydrates, proteins and fats, our bodies need vitamins to function well. Henrik Dam’s revelation that a substance he called vitamin K was needed for blood to coagulate was followed by a number of investigations into how this substance can be obtained. In 1939 Edward Doisy succeeded in producing two variants of vitamin K in pure form, allowing him to determine its structure and to produce it by artificial means. This became especially important in treating bleeding among small children.
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