Sir Ernst Boris Chain
(19 June 1906 – 12 August 1979) was a German-born British biochemist best known for being a co-recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...
for his work on
penicillin.
Life and career
Chain was born in Berlin, the son of Margarete () and Michael Chain, a chemist and industrialist dealing in chemical products. His family was of both
Sephardic and
Ashkenazi Jewish descent. His father emigrated from Russia to study chemistry abroad and his mother was from Berlin.
[ In 1930, he received his degree in chemistry from Friedrich Wilhelm University. His father descends from ]Zerahiah ben Shealtiel Ḥen Zerahiah ben Shealtiel Ḥen, also called Zerahiah ben Shealtiel Gracian or Serachja ben Isaac Ben Shealtiel Halevi (fl. 1270-1290s) was a Spanish Jewish physician, philosopher, translator, and Hebraist. He flourished about the end of the thirteenth ...
who was a prominent figure among the Catalonian Jewry and whose ancestors were leading Jewish figures in Babylonia. He was a lifelong friend of Professor Albert Neuberger, whom he met in Berlin in the 1930s.
After the Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
came to power, Chain understood that, being Jewish, he would no longer be safe in Germany. He left Germany and moved to England, arriving on 2 April 1933 with £10 in his pocket. Geneticist and physiologist J. B. S. Haldane
John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (; 5 November 18921 December 1964), nicknamed "Jack" or "JBS", was a British-Indian scientist who worked in physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and mathematics. With innovative use of statistics in biolog ...
helped him obtain a position at University College Hospital
University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lond ...
, London.
After a couple of months he was accepted as a PhD student at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, establish ...
, where he began working on phospholipids under the direction of Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins
Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (20 June 1861 – 16 May 1947) was an English biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929, with Christiaan Eijkman, for the discovery of vitamins, even though Casimir Funk, a Po ...
. In 1935, he accepted a job at Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
as a lecturer in pathology
Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...
. During this time he worked on a range of research topics, including snake venoms, tumour
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
metabolism, lysozyme
Lysozyme (EC 3.2.1.17, muramidase, ''N''-acetylmuramide glycanhydrolase; systematic name peptidoglycan ''N''-acetylmuramoylhydrolase) is an antimicrobial enzyme produced by animals that forms part of the innate immune system. It is a glycoside ...
s, and biochemistry
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
techniques. Chain was naturalised
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...
as a British subject in April 1939.
In 1939, he joined Howard Florey to investigate natural antibacterial agents produced by microorganism
A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
s. This led him and Florey to revisit the work of Alexander Fleming, who had described penicillin nine years earlier. Chain and Florey went on to discover penicillin's therapeutic action and its chemical composition. Chain and Florey discovered how to isolate and concentrate the germ-killing agent in penicillin. For this research, Chain, Florey, and Fleming received the Nobel Prize in 1945.
Along with Edward Abraham
Sir Edward Penley Abraham, (10 June 1913 – 8 May 1999) was an English biochemist instrumental in the development of the first antibiotics penicillin and cephalosporin.
Early life and education
Abraham was born on 10 June 1913 at 47 Sout ...
he was also involved in theorising the beta-lactam structure of penicillin in 1942, which was confirmed by X-ray crystallography
X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...
done by Dorothy Hodgkin in 1945.
Towards the end of World War II, Chain learned his mother and sister had been killed by the Nazis. After World War II, Chain moved to Rome, to work at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità
The ''Istituto Superiore di Sanità'' (Italian National Institute of Health, literally 'Higher Health Institute'), also ISS, is an Italian public institution that, as the leading technical-scientific body of the Italian National Health Service (' ...
(Superior Institute of Health). He returned to Britain in 1964 as the founder and head of the biochemistry department at Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
, where he stayed until his retirement, specialising in fermentation technologies.
On 17 March 1948 Chain was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...
.
In 1948, he married Anne Beloff, sister of Renee Beloff, Max Beloff
Max Beloff, Baron Beloff, (2 July 1913 – 22 March 1999) was a British historian and Conservative peer. From 1974 to 1979 he was principal of the University College of Buckingham, now the University of Buckingham.
Early life
Beloff was born ...
, John Beloff
John Beloff (19 April 1920 – 1 June 2006) was an English psychology professor at Edinburgh University and parapsychologist.
Biography
Beloff was born and brought up in London, and was from a Russian Jewish family. His parents were Semion ...
and Nora Beloff
Leah Nora Beloff (24 January 1919 – 12 February 1997) was an English journalist and political writer. She worked for ''The Observer'' for three decades, from 1948 to 1978, and became a political correspondent in 1964, making her the first woma ...
, and a biochemist of significant standing herself. In his later life, his Jewish identity became increasingly important to him. Chain was an ardent Zionist and he became a member of the board of governors of the Weizmann Institute of Science
The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli unive ...
at Rehovot in 1954, and later a member of the executive council. He raised his children securely within the Jewish faith, arranging much extracurricular tuition for them. His views were expressed most clearly in his speech 'Why I am a Jew' given at the World Jewish Congress Conference of Intellectuals in 1965.
Chain was appointed Knight Bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...
in the 1969 Birthday Honours
The 1969 Queen's Birthday Honours were appointments to orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms to reward and highlight citizens' good works, on the occasion of the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. They were announced in supplem ...
.
Chain died in 1979 at the Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar
Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. W ...
, Ireland. The Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
biochemistry building is named after him, as is a road in Castlebar
Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. W ...
.
See also
* List of Jewish Nobel laureates
Nobel Prizes have been awarded to over 900 individuals, of whom at least 20% were Jews.
*
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The number of Jews receiving Nobel prizes has been the subject of some attention.*
*
*"Jews rank high among winners of Nobel, but why ...
References
Bibliography
*
External links
* including the Nobel Lecture, 20 March 1946 ''The Chemical Structure of the Penicillins''
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chain, Ernst Boris
1906 births
1979 deaths
Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine
British Nobel laureates
Academics of Imperial College London
Fellows of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
20th-century German chemists
Jewish chemists
Jewish creationists
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom
Knights Bachelor
People of Sephardic-Jewish descent
Fellows of the Royal Society
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
German humanitarians
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
British humanitarians
British people of Russian-Jewish descent
Beloff family
Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd class
British expatriates in Italy
Physicians of the Charité