Biochemist Christian Boehmer Anfinsen is known for establishing that the structure of an enzyme is intimately related to its function. This discovery was a major contribution to the scientific understanding of the nature of enzymes. For this achievement, Anfinsen shared the 1972 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with the research team of Stanford Moore and William Howard Stein.

Anfinsen was born on March 26, 1916, in Monessen, Pennsylvania, a town located just outside of Pittsburgh. He was the child of Christian Anfinsen, an engineer and emigrant from Norway, and Sophie Rasmussen, who was also of Norwegian heritage. Anfinsen earned his B.A. from Swarthmore College in 1937. Subsequently, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, earning an M.S. in organic chemistry in 1939. After earning his master's degree, Anfinsen received a fellowship from the American Scandinavian Foundation to spend a year at the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen, Denmark. Upon his return in 1940, he entered...