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Walter Norman HaworthNobel Prize in Chemistry, 1937, jointly with Paul Karrer
Date of Birth: 19.03.1883
Country:  Great Britain |
Content:
- Walter Norman Haworth
- Research on Terpenes and Carbohydrates
- Discovery of the Ring Structure of Glucose
- Discovery of Vitamin C
- Nobel Prize and Later Career
- Return to London and Death
Walter Norman Haworth
Early Life and EducationWalter Norman Haworth was born in the small town of Chorley, Lancashire, England, on March 19, 1883, to Thomas and Hannah Haworth. He was the fourth of five children. Haworth left school before his 14th birthday to work at his father's linoleum factory. Despite his lack of formal education, he developed an interest in chemistry after being exposed to the dyes used in the factory.
Haworth began taking private lessons in chemistry from a tutor in nearby Preston. In 1903, he successfully passed the entrance exam for the University of Manchester, where he studied under Sir William Perkin, Jr., Dean of the Chemistry Department. In 1906, Haworth graduated with honors in Chemistry and went on to assist Perkin in his research on terpenes, hydrocarbons found in certain plant oils and used as solvents.
Research on Terpenes and Carbohydrates
In 1909, Haworth traveled to Göttingen University in Germany to work with Otto Wallach, where he earned his doctorate in 1911. Upon returning to Manchester, he earned a second doctorate and was appointed Senior Demonstrator in Chemistry at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London.
The following year, Haworth became Lecturer in Chemistry at the United College of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. It was at St. Andrews that he encountered the work of Thomas Purdie and James Irvine, pioneers in determining the structure of carbohydrates.
Haworth soon shifted his research focus from terpenes to carbohydrates, particularly saccharides and sugars. His research was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I in 1914. For the next four years, the chemistry laboratory at St. Andrews produced medicines and chemical reagents for the British Army.
After the war, Haworth and his colleagues resumed their academic research, and Haworth delved into his interrupted study of saccharides. In 1920, he became Professor of Organic Chemistry at Armstrong College (now King's College) of Durham University in Newcastle. In 1925, he moved to the University of Birmingham as Professor of Chemistry.
Discovery of the Ring Structure of Glucose
Throughout the 1920s, Haworth studied the structure of monosaccharides (simple sugars) and oligosaccharides, more complex sugar molecules formed from a few monosaccharides. In 1925, he proposed that the structure of glucose, a common sugar that serves as the primary energy source for mammals, consists of six atoms linked together in a ring. His model differed from the earlier linear structure proposed by Emil Fischer.
Haworth's work became pivotal in understanding the structure of carbohydrates, and by the late 1920s, Birmingham had become a leading center for carbohydrate research.
Discovery of Vitamin C
In the early 1930s, Haworth and his colleagues expanded their research to hexuronic acid, a substance isolated by Albert Szent-Györgyi from animal adrenal glands and red peppers. By 1932, Haworth had determined that this carbohydrate consists of six carbon atoms, eight hydrogen atoms, and six oxygen atoms, and has a five-membered ring structure with three short side chains.
Haworth renamed hexuronic acid "ascorbic acid," or vitamin C, due to its antiscorbutic properties. In doing so, he became the first person to synthesize the vitamin.
Nobel Prize and Later Career
In 1936, Haworth was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his investigations on carbohydrates and vitamin C." He shared the prize with Paul Karrer. In his presentation speech, K.V. Palmer, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, emphasized the importance of Haworth's vitamin research:
"Haworth's investigations of vitamin C paved the way for the artificial production of a compound, a highly important vitamin, which is found in nature only in very minute quantities. Ascorbic acid is now produced on an industrial scale, and the synthetic ascorbic acid is sold at a price considerably lower than that of the natural product."
In 1938, overwork led to a decline in Haworth's health, and he was forced to reduce his workload significantly. By 1941, however, he had recovered and became Chairman of the British Chemical Mission to the U.S. In this role, he oversaw the production of highly purified uranium and fluorocarbon compounds.
Haworth also served as Chairman of the Chemical Research Board of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and was actively involved in the organization of the Research Association of British Rubber Manufacturers and the Colonial Products Research Association. From 1943 to 1946, he was Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Birmingham, and from 1944 to 1946, he was President of the Chemical Society.
Return to London and Death
In 1948, Haworth retired from his position at Birmingham and returned to London. He remained active on numerous government and corporate boards and committees. He also represented the Royal Society at the Seventh Pacific Science Congress in New Zealand in 1949 and delivered a series of lectures in Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne.
On March 19, 1950, just days after opening a Chemical Society conference on the standardization of carbohydrate nomenclature, Haworth died at his home in London from a heart attack. He was survived by his wife, Violet Hilton (née Dobbie), whom he had married in 1922, and his two sons.
Haworth was known to his colleagues and friends as a compassionate, gentle, and kind man who had a strong love of travel and the arts. He received the Chemical Society's Longstaff Medal (1933), the Royal Society's Davy Medal (1934), and Royal Medal (1942). He was a Fellow of the Chemical Society and Honorary Member of the Swiss Chemical Society, the Bavarian and Vienna Academies of Sciences, and several other academies. He held honorary degrees from the Universities of Manchester, Cambridge, Zurich, and Queen's University of Belfast.
