Folin, Otto

Folin, Otto (Knut Olof)

(1867–1934) biochemist; born in Asheda, Sweden. He emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1882 to join his brother in Minnesota. He taught chemistry at the University of West Virginia (1899–1900), performed research at McLean Hospital (Waverly, Mass.) (1900–07), then became the first professor of biological chemistry at Harvard Medical School (1907–34). He was a pioneer in practical colorimetry and chemical urinalysis (1900–04), then expanded his work to include analyses of blood and tissues. With Hsien Wu, he developed the classical Folin-Wu method of assaying glucose in protein-free filtrates of blood (1919). Folin's interest in color reactions formed the basis of quantitative clinical chemistry. He founded the Journal of Biological Chemistry (1905).

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.