Hopkins, Frederick Gowland

Hopkins, Frederick Gowland 

Born June 20, 1861, in Eastbourne; died May 16, 1947, in Cambridge. British biochemist. Fellow of the Royal Society of London (from 1905; president from 1930 to 1935).

Hopkins graduated from the University of London, where he received the Ph.D. degree in 1894. He worked at the university until 1898, when he transferred to Cambridge University, where he became a professor of biochemistry in 1914. His primary research was in the biochemistry of nitrogen metabolism in the organism. He discovered tryptophan (1901) and glutathione (1921). In 1906 he advanced the idea of accessory food factors (vitamins) and essential amino acids. He was the first to establish the storage of lactic acid in the working muscle. Hopkins was one of the founders of the study of vitamins. He discovered the growth-stimulating vitamins, vitamins A and D, in milk.

Hopkins was a foreign honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1934). He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1929, along with C. Eijkman.

REFERENCE

Kretovich, V. L. “Frederik Goulend Gopkins: K 100-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia.” Biokhimiia, 1961, vol. 26, issue 6.