Nationality United Kingdom Name Arthur Harden | Doctoral advisor Otto Fischer Institutions Lister Institute | |
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Books A New View of the Origin of Dalton's Atomic Theory: A Contribution to Chemical History, Together with Letters and Documents Concerning the Life and Labours of John Dalton, Now for the First Time Published from Manuscript in the Possession of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester Education University of Manchester, Victoria University of Manchester, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Similar People Hans von Euler‑Chelpin, Henry Enfield Roscoe, Hermann Emil Fischer, Werner Heisenberg | ||
Arthur Harden | Wikipedia audio article
Sir Arthur Harden, FRS (12 October 1865 Manchester, Lancashire – 17 June 1940 Bourne End, Buckinghamshire) was a British biochemist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1929 with Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin for their investigations into the fermentation of sugar and fermentative enzymes.
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Early years
His parents were Albert Tyas Harden and Eliza Macalister. He was educated at a Tettenhall College, Staffordshire, and entered Owens College, now the University of Manchester, in 1882, graduating in 1885.
Research
In 1886 Harden was awarded the Dalton Scholarship in Chemistry and spent a year working with Otto Fischer at Erlangen. He returned to Manchester as lecturer and demonstrator, and remained there until 1897 when he was appointed chemist to the newly founded British Institute of Preventive Medicine, which later became the Lister Institute. He earned the degree Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) from the Victoria University (which included Owens College) in June 1902. Five years later, in 1907 he was appointed Head of the Biochemical Department, a position which he held until his retirement in 1930 (though he continued his scientific work at the Institute after his retirement).
At Manchester, Harden had studied the action of light on mixtures of carbon dioxide and chlorine, and when he entered the Institute he applied his methods to the investigation of biological phenomena such as the chemical action of bacteria and alcoholic fermentation. He studied the breakdown products of glucose and the chemistry of the yeast cell, and produced a series of papers on the antiscorbutic and anti-neuritic vitamins.
Harden was knighted in 1926, and received several honorary doctorates. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he received the Davy Medal in 1935.
Personal life
He was married with no children. His wife died in 1928.