John Cornforth
Sign in to saveAustralian-British chemist
AI overview
John Cornforth was an Australian-British chemist who made important contributions to understanding how chemical reactions work in living organisms. His work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalyzed reactions earned him significant recognition in the field of biochemistry.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1937
- Died
- 2013-12-08
- Works
- 21
Top works
- The Country Life picture book of country houses
- Inveraray Castle
- Inveraray Castle
- Houghton, Norfolk
- Adare Manor
via Open Library + Wikidata
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
Article
Sir John Warcup Cornforth Jr., AC, CBE, FRS, FAA (7 September 1917 – 8 December 2013) was an Australian–British chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975 for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions, becoming the only Nobel laureate born in New South Wales.
Cornforth investigated enzymes that catalyse changes in organic compounds, the substrates, by taking the place of hydrogen atoms in a substrate's chains and rings. In his syntheses and descriptions of the structure of various terpenes, olefins, and steroids, Cornforth determined specifically which cluster of hydrogen atoms in a substrate were replaced by an enzyme to effect a given change in the substrate, allowing him to detail the biosynthesis of cholesterol. For this work, he won a share of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975, alongside co-recipient Vladimir Prelog, and was knighted in 1977.
Gallery (2)
Connections
Categories
1917 births2013 deaths20th-century Australian chemistsAcademics of the University of SussexAcademics of the University of WarwickAlumni of St Catherine's College, OxfordAustralian atheistsAustralian Commanders of the Order of the British EmpireAustralian deaf peopleAustralian emigrants to the United KingdomAustralian fellows of the Royal Society