Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Györgyi And Noble Prize

n the past 110 years, Hungarian researchers and professionals have enriched humanity with several scientific inventions and professional achievements, many of them earning the Nobel Prize. At the time of receiving the prize, founded by Alfred Nobel in 1895 and first awarded in 1901, only a minority of the new holders were from Hungary. Many left Hungary, for Western countries out of political or financial considerations, and due to lack of research opportunities.

Lénárd Fülöp

At the same time, deciding upon “how much Hungarian” these researchers were, can only hinge on the extent to which they considered themselves Hungarians and felt that the Prize would also enrich Hungary.
Curiously, the lists of Nobel Prize winners who tend to call themselves Hungarians, had no sense of identity other than their origin, including Milton Friedman (1946, economics) or even Carleton D. Gajdusek (1976, medicine, shared).
The first recipient of Hungarian origin, was Fülöp Lénárd born in 1862, who was nominated for the Prize as early as 1901 and finally earned it in 1905 for his research on cathode radiation.
In 1914, Róbert Bárány obtained the Nobel Prize for physiological research. He had little contact with Hungary’s scientific life, and settled in Sweden after World War I. In 1925 Richárd Zsigmond received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was not known or recognised in the public life of his native country, even the press did not cover the receipt of his decoration, or recognised the importance of his research.

Szentgyörgyi Albert

The case of Albert Szent-Györgyi was different. He earned the highest scientific prize in 1937 for discovering vitamin C. He went to receive the prize from Hungary; then he offered it to the Finns in the Soviet-Finnish war. Finally, he donated the prize to the Hungarian National Museum, who still till this day, have it on display. Posterity was less thankful: Szent-Györgyi fled Hungary in 1948 for political reasons.
Having started his career in Hungary, György Hevesy later left for Copenhagen in 1919, and his research went on to earn him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, in 1943 “for the application of radioactive isotopes as indicators”. After World War II the first recipient of Hungarian origin was György Békésy, who left Hungary in 1946 and earned the prize for his medical activities in 1961. However, the prize gained was a recognition of his research conducted in Budapest.

Wigner Jenő

In 1963 Jenő Wigner, who played a key role in the creation of the nuclear bomb, earned a shared Nobel Prize in Physics „for his achievements in the theory of atomic kernels and particles, especially through the discovery and application of basic symmetry”.

Gábor Dénes

Dénes Gábor was awarded the Prize in 1971 “for the discovery and improvement of the method of holography”. Gábor had developed the basic principles, decades before but only put them into practice at a later time.
Holder of the Peace Prize from 1986, Elie Wiesel had a special life. As the sole Holocaust survivor in his family, he settled in Paris then later to the US. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Peace “because he was one of the most important leaders and chief intellectuals at the times when violence, oppression, and racism left their mark on the world’s physiognomy.”
In 1994, two professionals of Hungarian origin were decorated. János Harsányi was awarded a shared prize in Economics, and György Oláh in Chemistry, the former for “pioneering work in balance analysis of the theory of non-cooperative games,” the latter for his „contribution to the chemistry of carbocations” (a discovery which revolutionised the generation of carbohydrogens).
In 2002 the official explanation for Imre Kertész’s Nobel Prize in Literature read as follows: “for a writer’s oeuvre which expresses an individual’s vulnerable experience against history’s barbaric tyranny”. The author was mainly decorated for his novel “Fateless”, written during more than 13 years and first published in 1975. Last but not least, in 2004 Ferenc Herskó received a shared Nobel Prize for the discovery of “protein decomposition mediated by ubiquitin”, i.e. for the identification of the cellular emergence of various diseases (cancer, cystic fibrosis).
The past 110 years, have witnessed several researchers who would have deserved the Swedish prize, such as Loránd Eötvös for research on gravitation, Leó Szilárd for nuclear research, Ede Teller, who considered himself a Hungarian until his death, for the hydrogen bomb, Tódor Kármán for a revolution achieved in modern aerodynamics, and János Neumann often called a father of information technology.
(An exclusive article written for the Presidency website by the "Múlt-kor" historians' web portal)

Albert Szent-Györgyi

AKA Albert Imre Szent-Györgyi
Born: 16-Sep-1893
Birthplace: Budapest, Hungary
Died: 22-Oct-1986
Location of death: Woods Hole, MA
Cause of death: Kidney failure
Gender: Male
Religion: Agnostic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Scientist, Activist
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Vitamins C and B2
Military service: Hungarian Army (medic, 1914-16)
Albert Szent-Györgyi's grandfather and uncle were both Professors of Anatomy at the University of Budapest. His uncle, Mihály Lenhossék, thought young Szent-Györgyi was somewhat dull-witted, and tried to discourage him from pursuing a career in science. He was allowed to work in his Uncle Mihály's laboratory, but since the professor suffered from hemorrhoids he assigned his nephew to research the human rectum. Szent-Györgyi's first scientific paper concerned the epithelium of the anus.
World War I interrupted his studies, and Szent-Györgyi served as a medic on the Italian and Russian fronts, receiving a Silver Medal for Valor before being wounded and discharged. He later admitted that his injury was self-inflicted -- he had carefully chosen a point on his left upper arm where a bullet would do no lasting damage, and shot himself to escape a war he saw as only a huge waste of life.
Discharged from the military, he attended medical school, and worked briefly in a Hungarian bacteriological laboratory, but quit after questioning experiments performed on Italian prisoners of war.
He wrote an article on the potato's respiratory mechanism which impressed Sir Frederick Hopkins, who invited Szent-Györgyi to join him at Cambridge. While working there, he discovered Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), first isolating almost an ounce of it in citrus fruit, certain vegetables, and adrenal glands. For his finding he was awarded the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 1937. His further research showed that "hexuronic acid", as it was called, would prevent and counteract scurvy, and Szent-Györgyi later isolated vitamin B2, or riboflavin.
During World War II, he was deeply involved in Hungary's anti-fascist resistance, working to help Jews escape the country. He became a fugitive from Nazi authorities after Adolf Hitler ordered his arrest, but he was smuggled to safety in Sweden. After the war he returned to Hungary to oversee the rebuilding of Budapest's scientific institutions.
When he realized that Hungary's new communist regime would not allow unfettered research, Szent-Györgyi emigrated to America in 1947, where he researched metabolic processes of muscle cells, and the application of quantum physics to biochemical studies of cancer. He became an American citizen in 1955, and founded both the Institute for Muscle Research and the National Foundation for Cancer Research. In the 1960s he was an outspoken opponent of nuclear proliferation and America's war in Vietnam.

Father: Nicolaus Szent-Györgyi (real estate manager)
Mother: Josefine Szent-Györgyi von Nagyrapol
Wife: Cornelia Demeny ("Nelly", m. 1917, div. 1941)
Daughter: Cornelia Szent-Györgyi ("Little Nellie", b. 1918)
Wife: Marta Borbiro Miskolczy Szent-Györgyi (m. 1941, d. 1963 cancer)
Wife: Marcia Houston (m. 1975)
    Medical School: MD, University of Budapest (1917)
    Scholar: Pharmacology, Royal Hungarian Elizabeth University of Bratislava (Pozsony) (1917-19)
    Scholar: Pharmacology and biochemistry, University of Berlin (1920)
    Scholar: Pharmacology and biochemistry, University of Hamburg (1921)
    Scholar: Pharmacology and biochemistry, University of Leiden (1922)
    Scholar: Groningen University (1922-26)
    Scholar: Cambridge University (1926-30)
    University: PhD, Cambridge University (1927)
    Administrator: University of Budapest (1945-47)
    Shot: Self-Inflicted (1916)
    Nobel Prize for Medicine 1937
    Lasker Award 1954
    National Academy of Sciences 1956
    Naturalized US Citizen 1955
Author of books:
Oxidation, Fermentation, Vitamins, Health and Disease (1939, research)
Muscular Contraction (1947, research)
The Nature of Life (1947, research)
Contraction in Body and Heart Muscle (1953, research)
Bioenergetics (1957, research)
Introduction to a Submolecular Biology (1960, research)
The Crazy Ape (1970, research)
What Next? (1971, memoir)
The Living State with Observations on Cancer (1972)
Electronic Biology and Cancer: A New Theory of Cancer (1976, research)

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert von Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt (September 16, 1893 – October 22, 1986) was a Hungarian physiologist who won theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937. He is credited with discovering vitamin C and the components and reactions of thecitric acid cycle. He was also active in the Hungarian Resistance during World War II and entered Hungarian politics after the war

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

About Albert Szent-Györgyi, M.D., Ph.D.

The Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research is named in honor of Albert Szent-Györgyi, M.D., Ph.D. who was a pioneer, and, like many other explorers, he challenged the conventional thinking of the day to pursue his novel and promising ideas. After winning the Nobel Prize for his study on vitamin C and cell respiration, Dr. Szent-Györgyi set his sights on finding a way to defeat cancer.

Beyond his laboratory, Dr. Szent-Györgyi was a leading advocate for developing resources to provide scientists with the financial support necessary to pursue novel cancer research ideas. In 1973, he changed the face of cancer research funding by co-founding NFCR with entrepreneur Franklin C. Salisbury. Since then, NFCR has provided more than $275 million in support of cancer research and revention education programs.

NFCR is committed to upholding Dr. Szent-Györgyi's vision of curing cancer through innovation and collaboration. As part of this commitment, NFCR has established this Prize to honor scientists who have made extraordinary progress in cancer research and to focus attention on the essential role of basic research in finding the still elusive answers to the mysteries of cancer.

The Szent-Györgyi Prize serves to stimulate continued investment in the pioneering research that will produce scientific breakthroughs and lead to a deeper understanding of the scientific concepts behind the genetics and molecular makeup of cancer. By calling attention annually to achievements in this area, it is our desire to heighten awareness of the kind of research and discovery that must be accomplished before we can hope to produce cancer cures.

Google does a vitamin C-rich doodle for Albert Szent-Gyorgyi 118th birthday

New Delhi: A pair of oranges find a place of pride on the Google home page in commemoration of the 118th birthday of Albert Szent-Györgyi. The Hungarian physiologist credited with discovering vitamin C and also the components and reactions of the citric acid cycle was honoured with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937.

Born in Budapest, Austro-Hungary on September 16, 1893, Szent-Györgyi's family included three generations of scientists. Prior to the First World War Szent-Györgyi studied at the Semmelweis University, but showed more interest in his uncle's anatomy lab. During the war he served as an army medic but managed to take leave from military service on medical grounds. On his return from the war, Szent-Györgyi finished his medical degree.

During his research career Szent-Györgyi worked in a number of universities. He was awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1937 for "For his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion process with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid"

With communism taking control of Hungary after the Second World War, Szent-Györgyi emigrated to the United States in 1947. He died in Woods Hole, Massachusetts on October 22, 1986.

The Google doodle in honour of Albert von Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápol is rich in vitamin C and has in it some of the best sources of vitamin C - oranges, lemons, strawberries and more.

Google doodles have gained immense popularity over the past few years and the Google team has put out commemorative doodles on events ranging from news events, civic milestones, birthdays, death anniversaries and important dates in history.

Google estimates it has created more than 900 doodles since 1998, with 270 of them running in 2010 and more than 150 in 2011.

Albert Szent-Györgyi

If any student comes to me and says he wants to be useful to mankind and go into research to alleviate human suffering, I advise him to go into charity instead. Research wants real egotists who seek their own pleasure and satisfaction, but find it in solving the puzzles of nature.