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Hans Adolf Krebs (25 August 1900 – 22 November 1981) was a German born British physician
Physician

A physician, medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, or medical doctor practices medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and injury....
 and biochemist
Biochemist

Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms....
. Krebs is best known for his identification of two important metabolic cycles: the urea cycle
Urea cycle

The urea cycle is a cycle of biochemistry reactions occurring in many animals that produces urea 2carbonoxygen from ammonia . This cycle was the first metabolic cycle discovered ....
 and the citric acid cycle
Citric acid cycle

The citric acid cycle ? also known as the tricarboxylic acid cycle ; the Krebs cycle; or, more rarely, the Szent-Gy?rgyi-Krebs cycle) ? is a series of enzyme-catalysed chemical reactions of central importance in all living cell s that use oxygen as part of cellular respiration....
. The latter, the key sequence of metabolic chemical reactions that produces energy in cells, is also known as the Krebs cycle and earned him a Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institutet. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Physiology or Medic...
 in 1953.

s was born in Hildesheim
Hildesheim

is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim , about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , 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, and the Netherlands....
, to Georg Krebs, an ear, nose, and throat
Otolaryngology

Otolaryngology is the branch of medicine that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders. The full name of the specialty is otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. Practitioners are called otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons, or sometimes otorhinolaryngologists ....
 surgeon
Surgery

Surgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance, or sometimes for some other reason....
, and Alma Davidson .






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Hans Adolf Krebs (25 August 1900 – 22 November 1981) was a German born British physician
Physician

A physician, medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, or medical doctor practices medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and injury....
 and biochemist
Biochemist

Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms....
. Krebs is best known for his identification of two important metabolic cycles: the urea cycle
Urea cycle

The urea cycle is a cycle of biochemistry reactions occurring in many animals that produces urea 2carbonoxygen from ammonia . This cycle was the first metabolic cycle discovered ....
 and the citric acid cycle
Citric acid cycle

The citric acid cycle ? also known as the tricarboxylic acid cycle ; the Krebs cycle; or, more rarely, the Szent-Gy?rgyi-Krebs cycle) ? is a series of enzyme-catalysed chemical reactions of central importance in all living cell s that use oxygen as part of cellular respiration....
. The latter, the key sequence of metabolic chemical reactions that produces energy in cells, is also known as the Krebs cycle and earned him a Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institutet. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Physiology or Medic...
 in 1953.

Biography


Early years

Krebs was born in Hildesheim
Hildesheim

is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim , about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , 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, and the Netherlands....
, to Georg Krebs, an ear, nose, and throat
Otolaryngology

Otolaryngology is the branch of medicine that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders. The full name of the specialty is otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. Practitioners are called otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons, or sometimes otorhinolaryngologists ....
 surgeon
Surgery

Surgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance, or sometimes for some other reason....
, and Alma Davidson . He went to school in Hildesheim and studied medicine
Medicine

Medicine 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....
 at the University of Göttingen and at the University of Freiburg
University of Freiburg

University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English language as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public university research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-W?rttemberg, Germany....
 from 1918–1923. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Hamburg
University of Hamburg

The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 1 April 1919 by William Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium....
 in 1925, then studied chemistry
Chemistry

Chemistry is the science concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions....
 in Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
 for one year, where he later became an assistant of Otto Warburg at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology until 1930.

Career

Krebs returned to clinical medicine at the municipal hospital of Altona
Altona, Hamburg

Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the Germany States of Germany of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Denmark monarchy....
 and then at the medical clinic of the University of Freiburg
University of Freiburg

University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English language as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public university research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-W?rttemberg, Germany....
, where he conducted research and discovered the urea cycle
Urea cycle

The urea cycle is a cycle of biochemistry reactions occurring in many animals that produces urea 2carbonoxygen from ammonia . This cycle was the first metabolic cycle discovered ....
. Because he was Jewish, he was barred from practicing medicine in Germany and he emigrated to England in 1933. He was invited to Cambridge
Cambridge

The city status in the United Kingdom of Cambridge is a College town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about 50 miles north of London....
, where he worked in the biochemistry
Biochemistry

Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
 department under Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (1861–1947). Krebs became professor of biochemistry at the University of Sheffield
University of Sheffield

The University of Sheffield is a research university, located in Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. Ranked within the World's top 100 Universities, it is one of the original Red brick universities and a member of the Russell Group....
 in 1945. Krebs' area of interest was intermediary metabolism
Metabolism

Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms in order to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments....
. He identified the urea cycle
Urea cycle

The urea cycle is a cycle of biochemistry reactions occurring in many animals that produces urea 2carbonoxygen from ammonia . This cycle was the first metabolic cycle discovered ....
 in 1932, and the citric acid cycle
Citric acid cycle

The citric acid cycle ? also known as the tricarboxylic acid cycle ; the Krebs cycle; or, more rarely, the Szent-Gy?rgyi-Krebs cycle) ? is a series of enzyme-catalysed chemical reactions of central importance in all living cell s that use oxygen as part of cellular respiration....
 in 1937 at the University of Sheffield.

In 1953 he received the the Nobel Prize in Physiology
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institutet. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Physiology or Medic...
 for his "discovery of the citric acid cycle." He was knighted in 1958.

He was elected Honorary Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge University in 1979. Krebs died in Oxford
Oxford

Oxford is a City status in the United Kingdom, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. It has a population of 151,000. The rivers River Cherwell and River Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 in 1981.

Personal life

Krebs was married in 1938 to Margaret Cicely Fieldhouse with whom he had three children: sons, John Krebs, Baron Krebs, an ornithologist and member of the House of Lords
House of Lords

The House of Lords is the second house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". The Parliament comprises the British monarchy, the British House of Commons , and the Lords....
, Paul, and daughter, Helen. He died in Oxford at age 81.

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