Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell Swedish biochemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1955 Date of Birth: 06.06.1903 Country: Sweden

Biography of Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell

Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell was a Swedish biochemist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1955. He was born on July 6, 1903, in Linkoping, Sweden.

At the age of 3, Theorell contracted poliomyelitis, which left his left leg paralyzed. However, after a successful muscle transplantation surgery six years later, he regained the ability to walk. During his recovery, he learned to play the violin and became a conductor for the student orchestra at his high school. He was also the chairman of the school's scientific society.

In the summer of 1920, Theorell pursued engineering training with the Swedish railway, as he initially aspired to become a civil engineer. However, the following year, after completing high school, he decided to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue medicine. In 1921, he enrolled at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and completed the program in three years, receiving a Bachelor of Medicine degree in 1924.

After spending the summer at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, where he studied bacteriology, Theorell returned to Stockholm and was appointed as an assistant in medical chemistry at the Karolinska Institute. One of his first research projects involved studying the influence of lipids on the newly developed clinical test called the erythrocyte sedimentation rate. He also worked on improving electrophoresis, a laboratory method used for separating plasma proteins, which he later used to isolate and purify enzymes and coenzymes.

In 1928, Theorell obtained the title of professor and defended his dissertation on plasma lipids (fatty acids), earning a Ph.D. in 1930. In the following year, he married Elin Margit Elisabeth Alenius, a pianist who had studied music with one of Theorell's sisters in Stockholm. They had one daughter and three sons together.

During their honeymoon, Theorell and his wife embarked on a bicycle trip to England and then traveled to Paris, where they met the harpsichordist Wanda Landowska. While his wife spent five months studying music with Landowska in Paris, Theorell returned to the Karolinska Institute, where he worked as a physician and lectured on biochemistry.

During this time, Theorell focused on studying myoglobin, a heme-containing protein found in muscle tissue. He aimed to determine if myoglobin and hemoglobin molecules were identical. He successfully isolated the protein component of myoglobin and compared its characteristics to hemoglobin, demonstrating that they were not identical. However, he inaccurately determined that the molecular weight of myoglobin was half that of hemoglobin (later proven to be one-fourth).

In 1932, Theorell became an adjunct professor of medicine and physical chemistry at Uppsala University. Over the next two years, he worked as a Rockefeller Foundation fellow at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, conducting experiments to identify and isolate enzymes involved in cellular respiration. Upon his return to Stockholm in 1935, he continued his research on cytochrome c, an enzyme that catalyzes oxidative reactions on the surface of mitochondria.

In 1937, Theorell divided crystalline cytochrome c into two components: a coenzyme and an apoenzyme, which together facilitated oxidative reactions. In 1939, he spent three months in the United States, studying protein biochemistry with Linus C. Pauling at the California Institute of Technology.

After the establishment of the Nobel Medical Institute in Stockholm in 1947, Theorell was appointed as a professor and head of the biochemistry department. He played a pivotal role in organizing and financing research projects for invited scientists. In 1955, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discoveries concerning the nature and mechanism of action of oxidative enzymes.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, Theorell took on administrative responsibilities at the Wenner-Gren Foundation Center, which funded and organized research for invited scientists in Stockholm. After stepping down from the Karolinska Institute in 1970, he continued his research and symposiums on oxidative enzymes were held in his honor at the Wenner-Gren Center.

Theorell was known among his colleagues as a kind and friendly person with a great sense of humor. He was also the chairman of the Stockholm Philharmonic Society for many years. However, his health began to decline after suffering a stroke in 1974. He passed away on August 15, 1982, at the age of 79 while on a trip to Lusterö Island.

Throughout his career, Theorell received numerous awards and honors, including the Paul Karrer Medal in Chemistry from the University of Zurich and the Schelé Medal from the Association of German Pharmacologists. He was a member of several prestigious scientific societies and received honorary degrees from various universities.

The contributions of Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell helped advance the understanding of biochemistry and the mechanisms of oxidative enzymes, leaving a lasting impact on the field of medical research.