1899-1986

German-American Biochemist

Fritz Albert Lipmann was a German-born, American biochemist who helped discover the biochemical processes by which organisms produce and use energy. In particular, he discovered an essential substance called coenzyme A, which is a crucial intermediary in metabolism. It is necessary for the conversion of carbohydrates, fats, and amino acids into usable energy. For the work cited above, Lipmann was awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which he shared with German biochemist Sir Hans Adolph Krebs (1900-1981). Lipmann was also the first to propose that adenosine triphosphate (ATP) was the common form of energy used in many cellular reactions, a concept now thoroughly accepted and documented.

Lipmann was born in Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia) in 1899. While his early education was unremarkable, he went on and studied medicine at universities in Königsberg, Berlin, and Munich from...