Albert Szent-Györgyi

Biography

Albert Imre Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt was born in Budapest on September 16, 1893, into a family with a strong scientific background. His father was a landowner, and his mother came from a family of scientists, including his great-uncle József Lenhossék, a well-known anatomist. Szent-Györgyi studied medicine at Budapest University (now Semmelweis University), but his education was interrupted by World War I, when he served as a field surgeon. After the war, he finished his medical degree and continued his studies at various European institutions, including Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he worked with Frederick Gowland Hopkins.

Szent-Györgyi made a major scientific breakthrough with his research on cellular respiration and the discovery of vitamin C. While working at Cambridge and later at Szeged University in Hungary, he identified and extracted ascorbic acid from adrenal glands and various plants, especially Hungarian paprika. His work revealed the chemical structure and biological function of vitamin C, changing the understanding of scurvy and nutritional deficiencies. This, along with his research on cellular oxidation and the citric acid cycle, earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937.

During World War II, Szent-Györgyi became involved in anti-Nazi resistance in Hungary, using his international scientific reputation to oppose fascist policies. He secretly negotiated with the Allies and had to go into hiding when the Germans occupied Hungary in 1944. After the war, he briefly entered Hungarian politics but quickly became disillusioned with the communist regime. In 1947, he moved to the United States and set up a research laboratory at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Later in his career in America, Szent-Györgyi focused on muscle physiology and the molecular basis of muscle contraction. He identified and named the proteins actin and myosin, which are crucial parts of muscle fibers that allow contraction. Beyond his scientific efforts, he was an outspoken advocate for peace and nuclear disarmament during the Cold War. He married four times: Kornélia Demény, Márta Borbíró, June Susan Wichterman, and finally Marcia Houston. Szent-Györgyi continued his research and writing until he died in Woods Hole on October 22, 1986, at 93.