Lehninger, Albert L.

Lehninger, Albert L. (Lester) (1917–86) biochemist; born in Bridgeport, Conn. He taught at the Universities of Wisconsin (1942–45) and Chicago (1945–52) before moving to Johns Hopkins (1952–86). In 1948, Lehninger and E. P. Kennedy discovered that cellular organelles called mitochondria are the main sites of cell respiration. An authority on cellular energy systems, he made major contributions to enzymology, the bioenergetics of normal and cancer cells, and the results of calcification. He was the author of many textbooks on biochemistry, including the well-known Biochemistry: The Molecular Biology of Cell Structure, which sold over 600,000 copies.