Christian Boehmer Anfinsen Jr. (March 26, 1916 – May 14, 1995) was an American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

. He shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with

Stanford Moore Stanford Moore (September 4, 1913 – August 23, 1982) was an American biochemist. He shared a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1972, with Christian B. Anfinsen and William Howard Stein, for work done at Rockefeller University on the structure of ...

and William Howard Stein for work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active conformation (see

Anfinsen's dogma Anfinsen's dogma, also known as the thermodynamic hypothesis, is a postulate in molecular biology. It states that, at least for a small globular protein in its standard physiological environment, the native structure is determined only by the pro ...

). *
"Anfinsen, Christian B. ."
Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. . ''Encyclopedia.com''.

Background

Anfinsen was born in Monessen, Pennsylvania, into a family of Norwegian-American immigrants. His parents were Sophie (née Rasmussen) and Christian Boehmer Anfinsen Sr., a mechanical engineer. The family moved to Philadelphia in the 1920s. In 1933, he went to

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

where he played varsity football and earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1937. In 1939, he earned a master's degree in organic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded an American-Scandinavian Foundation fellowship to develop new methods for analyzing the chemical structure of complex proteins, namely

enzymes Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecule ...

, at the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1941, Anfinsen was offered a university fellowship for doctoral study in the Department of Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical School where he received his

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in biochemistry in 1943. During World War II he worked for the Office of Scientific Research and Development. Anfinsen had three children with his first wife, Florence Kenenger, to whom he was married from 1941 to 1978. In 1979, he married Libby Shulman Ely, with whom he had 4 stepchildren, * * and

converted Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

to Orthodox Judaism. However, Anfinsen wrote in 1987 that "my feelings about religion still very strongly reflect a fifty-year period of orthodox agnosticism." His papers were donated to the National Library of Medicine by Libby Anfinsen between 1998 and 1999.

Career

In 1950, the National Heart Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, recruited Anfinsen as chief of its laboratory of cell physiology. In 1954, a

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

fellowship enabled Anfinsen to return to the Carlsberg Laboratory for a year and a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship allowed him to study at the Weizmann Institute of Science in

Rehovot, Israel Rehovot ( he, רְחוֹבוֹת ''Rəḥōvōt'', ar, رحوڤوت ''Reḥūfūt'') is a city in the Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu movement, ...

from 1958 to 1959. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1958. In 1962, Anfinsen returned to Harvard Medical School as a visiting professor and was invited to become chair of the department of chemistry. He was subsequently appointed chief of the laboratory of chemical biology at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases (now the National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases), where he remained until 1981. In 1981, Anfinsen became a founding member of the World Cultural Council. From 1982 until his death in 1995, Anfinsen was Professor of Biology and (Physical) Biochemistry at

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...

. Anfinsen published more than 200 original articles, mostly in the area of the relationships between structure and function in proteins, as well as a book, The Molecular Basis of Evolution (1959), in which he described the relationships between protein chemistry and genetics and the promise those areas held for the understanding of evolution. He was also a pioneer of ideas in the area of nucleic acid compaction. In 1961, he showed that ribonuclease could be refolded after denaturation while preserving enzyme activity, thereby suggesting that all the information required by protein to adopt its final conformation is encoded in its amino-acid sequence. He belonged to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

(USA), the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and the American Philosophical Society.

Christian B. Anfinsen Award

Established in 1996, The Christian B. Anfinsen Award is presented annually to distinguished scientists, the Awards recognize excellence and outstanding achievements in the multidisciplinary fields of protein science, and honor distinguished contributions in the areas of leadership, education, or service. It is sponsored by The Protein Society, and recognizes significant technical achievements in the field of protein science. Past recipients of the Christian B. Anfinsen Award include: * Donald Hunt (1996) * Wayne Hendrickson (1997) *James Wells (1998) * Alan Fersht (1999) *

Stephen Benkovic Stephen James Benkovic (born April 20, 1938) is an American chemist. He is Evan Pugh Professor and Eberly Chair in Chemistry at Penn State University. His research has focused on mechanistic enzymology and the discovery of enzyme inhibitors. He ...

(2000) *

Martin Karplus Martin Karplus (born March 15, 1930) is an Austrian and American theoretical chemist. He is the Director of the Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory, a joint laboratory between the French National Center for Scientific Research and the University of St ...

(2001) *

Roger Tsien Roger Yonchien Tsien (pronounced , "'' CHEN''"'';'' February 1, 1952 – August 24, 2016) was an American biochemist. He was a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego and was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

(2002) * Ada Yonath (2003) * Meir Wilchek (2004) *

Matthias Mann Matthias Mann (born 10 October 1959) is a scientist in the area of mass spectrometry and proteomics. Early life and education Born in Germany he studied mathematics and physics at the University of Göttingen. He received his Ph.D. in 1988 at Y ...

(2005) *

John R. Yates John R. Yates III is an American chemist and Ernest W. Hahn Professor in the Departments of Molecular Medicine and Neurobiology at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. His work is focused on developing tools and in proteomics ...

, III (2006) *Carl Frieden (2007) * Carol V. Robinson (2008) *

Wayne Hubbell Wayne L. Hubbell (born 24 March 1943) is an American biochemist and member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is Professor of Biochemistry and Jules Stein Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His researc ...

(2009) *Yoshinori Fujiyoshi (2010) *D. Wayne Bolen (2011) *Barry Honig (2012) *Tom Alber (2013) *

Robert Tycko Robert Tycko is an American biophysicist whose research primarily involves solid state NMR, including the development of new methods and applications to various areas of physics, chemistry, and biology. He is a member of the Laboratory of Chemical ...

(2014) *Sachdev Sidhu (2015) * Andreas Plückthun (2016) *Lewis Kay (2017) *Yifan Cheng (2018)

Selected works

''The Molecular Basis of Evolution''
(1959) *Editor, ''Advances in Protein Chemistry''

References

External links

Christian Anfinsen Papers (1939–1999)
– National Library of Medicine finding aid
The Christian B. Anfinsen Papers
– Profiles in Science, National Library of Medicine

Christian Anfinsen Papers 1939-1999 (bulk 1964-1999)
��National Library of Medicine finding aid * including the Nobel lecture December 11, 1972 ''Studies on the Principles that Govern the Folding of Protein Chains'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Anfinsen, Christian B. 1916 births 1995 deaths Nobel laureates in Chemistry American Nobel laureates American biophysicists American Orthodox Jews American people of Norwegian descent Carlsberg Laboratory staff Converts to Judaism from atheism or agnosticism Converts to Orthodox Judaism Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Founding members of the World Cultural Council Jewish American scientists Jewish biologists Jewish chemists Johns Hopkins University faculty Harvard Medical School alumni People from Monessen, Pennsylvania Swarthmore College alumni Swarthmore Garnet Tide football players University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences