Edward Adelbert Doisy was an acclaimed biochemist whose contributions to research involved studying how chemical substances affected the body. In addition to research on antibiotics, insulin, and female hormones, he is remembered for his successful isolation of vitamin K, a substance that encourages blood clotting. Because he was able to synthesize this substance, many thousands of lives are saved each year. For this research, Doisy shared the 1943 Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology with Danish scientist Henrik Dam.

Doisy, one of two children, was born in Hume, Illinois, to Edward Perez Doisy, a traveling salesman, and Ada (Alley) Doisy. His parents, while themselves having little in the way of higher education, encouraged him to attend college. Doisy received his baccalaureate degree in 1914 from the University of Illinois at Champaign, and then obtained his master's in 1916. The advent of World War I interrupted his schooling for two years, during...