Adolf Butenandt

Infobox_Scientist
name = Adolf Butenandt

---

image_size = 180px
birth_date = March 24, 1903
birth_place = Lehe/Bremerhaven, Germany
nationality = Germany
death_date = death date and age|1995|1|18|1903|3|24
death_place = Munich, Germany
field = Organic andbiochemistry
work_institution = Kaiser Wilhelm Institute / Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry
Technical University of Danzig
alma_mater =
doctoral_advisor = Adolf Windaus
doctoral_students =
known_for =
prizes = Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1939)
Kriegsverdienstkreuz (1942)Organic

Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt (March 24, 1903 – January 18, 1995) was a German biochemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939 for his "work on sex hormones." He was initially forced by the Nazi government to decline the award, but accepted it in 1949 after World War II. [ [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/nobelprize_facts.html NobelPrize.org] ] Organic

Born in Lehe, near Bremen, he started his studies at the University of Marburg.

For his Ph.D he joined the working group of the Nobel laureate Adolf Windaus at the University of Göttingen and he finished his studies with a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1927.

Adolf Windaus and Walter Schöller of Schering gave him the advice to work on hormones extraced from ovaries. This research lead to the discovery of estrone and other primary female sex hormones, which were extracted from several thousand liter of urine. [cite journal
title = Über „Progynon“ ein krystallisiertes weibliches Sexualhormon
author = A. Butenandt
journal = Naturwissenschaften
volume = 17
issue = 45
pages = 78–92
year = 1929
doi = 10.1007/BF01506919] [cite journal
title = Über die chemische Untersuchung der Sexualhormone
author = A. Butenandt
journal = Zeitschrift für Angewandte Chemie
volume = 44
issue = 46
pages = 905–98
year = 1931
doi = 10.1002/ange.19310444602] For this research he won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1939 together with Lavoslav Ružička who was involved in the synthesis of several newly discovered steroids.

After his Habilitation he became lecturer in Göttingen 1931. He was professor at the Technical University of Danzig 1933, [cite journal
title = Adolf Butenandt und sein Wirken an der Technischen Hochschule Danzig
author = Romuald Piosik
journal = CHEMKON
volume = 10
issue = 3
pages = 135–138
year = 2003
doi = 10.1002/ckon.200390038] and after a visit in the US, he became director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biochemistry (later the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry) in Berlin-Dahlem beginning in 1936. [cite journal
title = Nur Zweite Wahl oder Die Berufung Adolf Butenandts zum Direktor des KWI für Biochemie
author = Lothar Mertens
journal = Berichte zur Wissenschafts-Geschichte
volume = 26
issue = 3
pages = 213–222
year = 2003
doi = 10.1002/bewi.200390058] Butenandt joined the Nazi Party on May 1, 1936 (party member No. 3716562). As head of a leading institute he had to apply for money from the government, which was concentrated on the research which was labeled "kriegswichtig" (important for the war). So some of his research areas had a connection to military projects, like the improvement of oxygen uptake for high flying bomber pilots. This involvement with the Nazi regime and the research themes lead to criticism after the war and even after his death the discussion about his political orientation during the Nazi time is still not fully resolved. [cite journal
title = Biochemistry in Wartime: The Life and Lessons of Adolf Butenandt, 1936–1946
author = Achim Trunk
journal = Minerva
volume = 44
issue = 3
pages = 285–306
year = 2006
doi = 10.1007/s11024-006-9002-2] When the institute moved to Tübingen in 1945 he became a professor at the University of Tübingen. In 1956, when the institute relocated to Martinsried, a suburb of Munich, Butenandt became a professor at the University of Munich. He also served as president of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science following Otto Hahn from 1960 to 1972.

Butenandt is credited with the discovery and naming of the silkworm moth pheromone Bombykol in 1959.

Butenandt died in Munich in 1995. He was 91.

External links

* [http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1939/butenandt-bio.html Biography]
* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1939/index.html 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry]
* [http://www.marburg-net.de/personen/butenandt.php Biography]
* [http://www.mpg.de/bilderBerichteDokumente/dokumentation/jahrbuch/2004/archiv_geschichte_mpg/forschungsSchwerpunkt/pdf.pdf MPG Biography]

References

*cite journal
title = Adolf Butenandt (1903–1995)
author = Peter Karlson
journal = Nature
volume = 373
pages = 660
year = 1995
url = http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v373/n6516/pdf/373660b0.pdf
doi = 10.1038/373660b0
*cite journal
title = Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt. 24 March 1903-18 January 1995
author = Muhammad Akhtar; Monika E. Akhtar
journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society
volume = 44
issue =
pages = 78–92
year = 1998
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0080-4606%28199811%2944%3C78%3AAFJB2M%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O
doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1998.0006
*cite journal
title = Adolf Butenandt: 24. 3. 1903 - 18. 1. 1995
author = Lothar Jaenicke
journal = Chemie in unserer Zeit
volume = 29
issue = 3
pages = 163–165
year = 1995
doi = 10.1002/ciuz.19950290313
*cite journal
title = Von der Rockefeller Foundation zur Kaiser-Wilhelm/Max-Planck-Gesellschaft: Adolf Butenandt als Biochemiker und Wissenschaftspolitiker des 20. Jahrhunderts
author = Angelika Ebbinghaus, Karl-Heinz Roth
journal = Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft
volume = 50
issue = 5
pages = 389–418
year = 2002
doi =

*cite book
author = Schieder, Wolfgang
title = Adolf Butenandt und die Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft - Wissenschaft, Industrie und Politik im "Dritten Reich"
location = Göttingen
publisher = Wallstein-Verlag
year = 2004
pages = 450
id = ISBN 3-89244-752-7