Edward Kendall is known for two major contributions to biochemical knowledge. The first of these was his isolation of the thyroid hormone thyroxine. In addition, he isolated several steroid hormones produced by the cortex (outer covering) of the adrenal gland, one of which is cortisone, playing a major role in demonstrating its medical use. For his work with cortisone, Kendall shared part of the 1950 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with his colleague Philip Hench.

Throughout his career, Kendall often relied on intuition rather than strict laboratory procedure in performing his research. After retiring from the Mayo Clinic in 1951, he continued his research at Princeton University. Kendall was born in South Norwalk, Connecticut, where his father was a dentist. He received both his bachelor's degree (1908) and his doctorate (1910) from Columbia University. The theory of hormones had been developed in the early years of the century by the British...