Adolf Windaus (redirected from Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus)

Windaus, Adolf 

Born Dec. 25, 1876, in Berlin; died June 9, 1959, in Güttingen. German biochemist and organic chemist.

After completing his education, Windaus worked in Freiburg (1901-13) and Innsbruck (1913-15); from 1915 to 1944 he was a professor and the director of the Chemical Institute in Gottingen. In 1901 he began research on sterols. He discovered their structure and the formation of vitamin D from ergosterol under the influence of ultraviolet radiation. (He received the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1928.) Windaus obtained histamine by synthesis, discovered sulfur in the composition of vitamin Bt, and studied antirachitic remedies and the chemical structures of colchicine, cardiac glycosides, imidazole, and other natural, biologically active substances.

WORKS

“Abbau- und Aufbauversuche im Gebiete der Sterine.” In Handbuch der biologischen Arbeitsmethoden, section 1, part 6. Berlin-Vienna, 1925.