1889-1971

Swiss chemist who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1937 for determining the three-dimensional structures of numerous organic (carbon-containing) compounds. Karrer was the first to determine the structure of a vitamin, that of vitamin A. He also investigated the structures of carotenoids, yellow-to-red pigments found, for example, in carrots and lobster shells. The structure of carotenoids is closely related to that of vitamin A, and Karrer showed how the body can use carotenoids to produce this vitamin.