Edmond H. Fischer was the joint recipient with his longtime associate, Edwin Krebs, of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1992 for discoveries dealing with reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism. Responsible for a wide range of basic processes, including cell growth and differentiation, regulation of genes, and muscle contraction, protein phosphorylation is now the subject of one in every 20 papers published in biology journals. Application of Fischer and Krebs's work to medicine has elucidated mechanisms of diseases such as cancer and diabetes, and has yielded drugs that inhibit the body's rejection of transplanted organs.

Edmond H. Fischer was born on April 6, 1920, in Shanghai, China. His father, Oscar Fischer, had come to China from Vienna, Austria, after earning degrees in business and law. Fischer's mother, Renée Tapernoux Fischer, was born in France. She had come to Shanghai with her family after first arriving...