Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus

Infobox_Scientist
name = Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus


image_size = 180px
birth_date = December 25, 1876
birth_place = Berlin, Germany
nationality = Germany
death_date = death date and age|1959|6|9|1876|12|25
death_place = Göttingen, Germany
field = Organic chemistry
biochemistry
work_institution =
alma_mater =
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students = Adolf Butenandt
known_for =
prizes = Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1928)

Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus (December 25, 1876 – June 9, 1959) was a German chemist who won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1928 for his work on sterols and their relation to vitamins. He was the doctoral advisor of Adolf Butenandt who also won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939.

Adolf Windaus was born in Berlin. His interest in chemistry was raised by lectures of Emil Fischer. He started studying medicine and chemistry in Berlin and later in Freiburg. He got his phd in early 1900 and focused on cholesterol and other sterols at the University of Freiburg. In 1913 he became professor for chemistry at the University of Innsbruck but already in 1915 he changed to the University of Göttingen where he stayed until his retirement in 1944.

He was involved in the discovery of the transformation of cholesterol through several steps to vitamin D₃ (Cholecalciferol). He gave his patents to Merck and Bayer and they brought out the medical Vigantol in 1927 [cite journal | quotes = yes | last=Haas | first=Jochen | authorlink= | year=2007 | month= | title= [Vigantol--Adolf Windaus and the history of vitamin D] | journal=Wurzbg Medizinhist Mitt | volume=26 | issue= | pages=144–81| pmid = 18354894 ] .

References

*cite journal | title=Das Portrait: Adolf Windaus 1876-1959 | author= Karl Dimroth | journal=Chemie in unserer Zeit | volume=10 | issue=6 | pages= 175–179 | year=1976 | doi=10.1002/ciuz.19760100603
*cite journal | title=Adolf Windaus zum Gedächtnis | author= H. H. Inhoffen | journal=Naturwissenschaften | volume=47 | issue=5 | pages=1960 | year=97-99 | doi=10.1007/BF00628571
*cite journal | title=The Discovery of Vitamin D: The Contribution of Adolf Windaus | author=George Wolf | journal=J. Nutr. | volume=134 | issue= | pages= 1299–1302 | year=2004 | url=http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/134/6/1299.pdf
*cite journal | title=Zur Geschichte der Sterin- und Vitamin-Forschung. Adolf Windaus zum Gedächtnis | author=Adolf Butenandt | journal=J. Nutr. | volume=72 | issue=18 | pages= 645–651 | year=1960 | doi=10.1002/ange.19600721802

External links

* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1928/windaus-bio.html Windaus biography at nobelprize.org]