Albert Szent-Györgyi was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his work in isolating vitamin C and his advances in the study of intercellular respiration; in 1954 he received the Albert and Mary Lasker Award from the American Heart Association for his contribution to the understanding of heart disease through his research in muscle physiology. In later years, Szent-Györgyi studied matter smaller than molecules, seeking the substances that would define the basic building blocks of life. In his late seventies, he founded the National Foundation for Cancer Research.

Albert Szent-Györgyi von Nagyrapolt was born in Budapest, Hungary, on September 16, 1893, to Miklos and Josephine Szent-Györgyi von Nagyrapolt. He was the second of three sons. His father, whose family claimed a title and was said to have traced their ancestry back to the seventeenth century, was a prosperous businessman who owned...