Ludwig Karl Martin Leonhard Albrecht Kossel (16 September 1853 – 5 July 1927) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
medical doctor.
Kossel was born in
RostockRostock is the largest city in the north German state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Rostock is located on the Warnow river; the quarter of Warnemünde 12 km north of the city centre lies directly on the coast of the Baltic Sea.-Geography:Rostock is located nearly centrally on...
as the son of
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
n consul Albrecht Kossel and his wife Clara. In 1872, Kossel went to the
University of StrasbourgThe University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....
to study
medicineMedicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, where he visited lectures of
Anton de BaryHeinrich Anton de Bary was a German surgeon, botanist, microbiologist, and mycologist ....
,
WaldeyerHeinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz was a German anatomist, famous for consolidating the neuron theory of organization of the nervous system and for naming the chromosome...
, Kundt, Baeyer and
Felix Hoppe-SeylerErnst Felix Immanuel Hoppe-Seyler was a German physiologist and chemist.Hoppe-Seyler was born in Freyburg an der Unstrut in the Province of Saxony. He originally trained to be a physician in Halle and Leipzig, and received his medical doctorate from Berlin in 1851...
. He graduated in 1878 at the
University of RostockThe University of Rostock is the university of the city Rostock, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.Founded in 1419, it is the oldest and largest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area as well as the second oldest in northern Europe after the University of St...
.
Kossel was awarded the 1910
Nobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institute. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine...
for research in
cell biologyCell biology is an academic discipline that studies cells – their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. This is done both on a microscopic and molecular level...
, especially
proteinProteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and folded into a globular form. The amino acids in a polymer chain are joined together by the peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid residues...
s and
nucleic acidA nucleic acid is a macromolecule composed of chains of monomeric nucleotides. In biochemistry these molecules carry genetic information or form structures within cells. The most common nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid . Nucleic acids are universal in living things, as...
s.
Ludwig Karl Martin Leonhard Albrecht Kossel (16 September 1853 – 5 July 1927) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
medical doctor.
Biography
Kossel was born in
RostockRostock is the largest city in the north German state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Rostock is located on the Warnow river; the quarter of Warnemünde 12 km north of the city centre lies directly on the coast of the Baltic Sea.-Geography:Rostock is located nearly centrally on...
as the son of
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
n consul Albrecht Kossel and his wife Clara. In 1872, Kossel went to the
University of StrasbourgThe University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....
to study
medicineMedicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, where he visited lectures of
Anton de BaryHeinrich Anton de Bary was a German surgeon, botanist, microbiologist, and mycologist ....
,
WaldeyerHeinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz was a German anatomist, famous for consolidating the neuron theory of organization of the nervous system and for naming the chromosome...
, Kundt, Baeyer and
Felix Hoppe-SeylerErnst Felix Immanuel Hoppe-Seyler was a German physiologist and chemist.Hoppe-Seyler was born in Freyburg an der Unstrut in the Province of Saxony. He originally trained to be a physician in Halle and Leipzig, and received his medical doctorate from Berlin in 1851...
. He graduated in 1878 at the
University of RostockThe University of Rostock is the university of the city Rostock, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.Founded in 1419, it is the oldest and largest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area as well as the second oldest in northern Europe after the University of St...
.
Kossel was awarded the 1910
Nobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institute. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine...
for research in
cell biologyCell biology is an academic discipline that studies cells – their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. This is done both on a microscopic and molecular level...
, especially
proteinProteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and folded into a globular form. The amino acids in a polymer chain are joined together by the peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid residues...
s and
nucleic acidA nucleic acid is a macromolecule composed of chains of monomeric nucleotides. In biochemistry these molecules carry genetic information or form structures within cells. The most common nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid . Nucleic acids are universal in living things, as...
s. He also discovered the amino acid
histidineHistidine is one of the 20 standard amino acids present in proteins. Nutritionally, histidine is considered an essential amino acid in human infants. After reaching several years of age, humans begin to synthesize it and it thus becomes a non-essential amino acid...
(1896), thymic acid and
agmatineAgmatine is the decarboxylation product of the amino acid arginine and is an intermediate in polyamine biosynthesis. It is discussed as a putative neurotransmitter...
(1910).
Kossel's field of work was physiological chemistry, especially the chemistry of
tissuesTissue is a cellular organizational level intermediate between cells and a complete organism. Hence, a tissue is an ensemble of cells, not necessarily identical, but from the same origin, that together carry out a specific function...
and
cellsThe cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos...
. He began his investigations into the constitution of the
cell nucleusIn cell biology, the nucleus , also sometimes referred to as the "control center", is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells. It contains most of the cell's genetic material, organized as multiple long linear DNA molecules in complex with a large variety of proteins, such as...
at the end of 1880, and in the nineties he began his investigations of proteins, the alterations in proteins during transformation into peptone, the effects of a phenetol diet on the
urineUrine is a liquid waste product of the body secreted by the kidneys by a process of filtration from blood called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous waste compounds, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
, the peptonic components of the cells. In 1896 he discovered
histidineHistidine is one of the 20 standard amino acids present in proteins. Nutritionally, histidine is considered an essential amino acid in human infants. After reaching several years of age, humans begin to synthesize it and it thus becomes a non-essential amino acid...
, then worked out the classical method for the quantitaive separation of the hexone bases. With his distinguished English pupil
Henry Drysdale DakinHenry Drysdale Dakin was an English chemist.He was born in London as the youngest of 8 children to a family of steel merchants from Leeds. As a school boy he did water analysis with the Leeds City Analyst. He studied chemistry at the University of Leeds with Julius B...
he investigated
arginaseArginase is a manganese-containing enzyme. The reaction catalyzed by this enzyme is: arginine + H2O → ornithine + urea. It is the final enzyme of the urea cycle.-Structure and Function of Arginase:...
, the ferment which hydrolyses
arginineArginine is an α-amino acid. The
L-form is one of the 20 most common natural amino acids. Its codons are CGU, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, and AGG. In mammals, arginine is classified as a semiessential or conditionally essential amino acid, depending on the developmental stage and health...
into
ureaUrea or carbamide is an organic compound with the chemical formula
2CO. The molecule has two amine residues joined by a carbonyl functional group....
and
ornithineOrnithine is an amino acid which plays a role in the urea cycle.-Role in urea cycle:
L-Ornithine is one of the products of the action of the enzyme arginase on
L-arginine, creating urea. Therefore, ornithine is a central part of the urea cycle, which allows for the...
, and later he discovered
agmatineAgmatine is the decarboxylation product of the amino acid arginine and is an intermediate in polyamine biosynthesis. It is discussed as a putative neurotransmitter...
in herring roe and devised a method for preparing it.
One of Kossel's students was
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
biochemistBiochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
Edwin B. HartEdwin B. Hart was an American biochemist.A native of Michigan, Hart studied physiological chemistry under Albrecht Kossel in Germany, and also studied at the University of Marzburg and University of Heidelberg...
, who would later return to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to participate in the "
Single-grain experimentThe single-grain experiment was an experiment carried out at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from May 1907 to 1911. The experiment tested if cows could survive on a single type of grain. The experiment would lead to the development of modern nutritional science.-Foundations:In 1881,...
" (1907-1911) and be part of research teams that would determine the
nutritiveNutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
causes of
anemiaAnemia is a decrease in normal number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood...
and
goiterA goitre , or goiter , also called a bronchocele, is a swelling in the thyroid gland, which can lead to a swelling of the neck or larynx...
.
Kossel had one daughter and one son,
WaltherWalther Ludwig Julius Kossel was a German physicist known for his theory of the chemical bond , Sommerfeld–Kossel displacement law of atomic spectra, the Kossel-Stranski model for crystal growth, and the Kossel effect...
(1888-1956), who was a prominent Professor of
Theoretical PhysicsTheoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics in an attempt to explain natural phenomena. Its central core is mathematical physics,[Sometimes mathematical physics and theoretical physics are used synonymously to refer to the...]
at Danzig Institute of Technology (1932-1945).
Selected works
- Untersuchungen über die Nukleine und ihre Spaltungsprodukte ("Investigations into the nucleins and their cleavage products", 1881)
- Die Gewebe des menschlichen Körpers und ihre mikroskopische Untersuchung ("The tissues in the human body and their microscopic investigation", 1889-1891)
- Leitfaden für medizinisch-chemische Kurse ("Textbook for medical-chemical courses", 1888)
- Die Probleme der Biochemie ("The problems of biochemistry", 1908
- Die Beziehungen der Chemie zur Physiologie ("The relationships between chemistry and physiology", 1913)