Konrad Bloch

Facts

Konrad Bloch

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Konrad Bloch
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1964

Born: 21 January 1912, Neisse (now Nysa), Germany (now Poland)

Died: 15 October 2000, Burlington, MA, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of the cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism."

Prize share: 1/2

Work

Cholesterol is an important component in the body's cells and plays a major role in several biochemical processes. Konrad Bloch and Feodor Lynen and their respective colleagues investigated how cholesterol and fatty acids are formed and converted in the body. Among other things, they showed that acetic acid is an important component in cholesterol and how the formation occurs in reactions with many steps. This knowledge is important for an understanding of heart disease and other illnesses in which changes in cholesterol formation can play a role.

To cite this section
MLA style: Konrad Bloch – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020. Wed. 8 Apr 2020. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1964/bloch/facts/>

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

Learn more

Nobel Prizes 2019

Fifteen laureates were awarded in 2019, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.

Their work and discoveries range from how cells adapt to changes in levels of oxygen to our ability to fight global poverty.

See them all presented here.
2019 Nobel Laureates

Explore prizes and laureates

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