Portrait of Nobel Prize laureate Albert Szent-Györgyi when he was a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health from 1948 to 1950. (U.S. National Library of Medicine)
Nobel Prize winner Albert Szent-Gyorgyi was the first to isolate vitamin C, and his research on biological oxidation provided the basis for Krebs' citric acid cycle.
Albert Imre Szent-Gyorgyi (September 16, 1893 – October 22, 1986) was born in Budapest. His discoveries about the biochemical nature of muscular contraction revolutionized the field of muscle research. His later career was devoted to research in "submolecular" biology, applying quantum physics to biological processes. He was especially interested in cancer, and was one of the first to explore the connections between free radicals and cancer. Szent-Gyorgyi won the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in biological oxidation and vitamin C, and the Lasker Award in Basic Medical Research in 1954, for contributions to understanding cardiovascular disease through basic muscle research. (National Library of Medicine)
