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Norman Haworth

Born

in Chorley, Lancashire, England, The United Kingdom

March 19, 1883

Died

March 19, 1950

Website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Haworth

Genre

Science, Chemistry, Nonfiction

Influences

Paul Karrer, Albert Szent-Györgyi, Charles Glen King, William Henry Pe ...more

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Sir (Walter) Norman Haworth FRS. was a British chemist best known for his groundbreaking work on ascorbic acid (vitamin C) while working at the University of Birmingham. He received the 1937 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his investigations on carbohydrates and vitamin C". The prize was shared with Swiss chemist Paul Karrer for his work on other vitamins.

Haworth worked out the correct structure of a number of sugars, and is known among organic chemists for his development of the Haworth projection that translates three-dimensional sugar structures into convenient two-dimensional graphical form.

Having worked for some time from the age of fourteen in the local Ryland's linoleum factory managed by his father, he studied for and successfully pas Sir (Walter) Norman Haworth FRS. was a British chemist best known for his groundbreaking work on ascorbic acid (vitamin C) while working at the University of Birmingham. He received the 1937 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his investigations on carbohydrates and vitamin C". The prize was shared with Swiss chemist Paul Karrer for his work on other vitamins.

Haworth worked out the correct structure of a number of sugars, and is known among organic chemists for his development of the Haworth projection that translates three-dimensional sugar structures into convenient two-dimensional graphical form.

Having worked for some time from the age of fourteen in the local Ryland's linoleum factory managed by his father, he studied for and successfully passed the entrance examination to the University of Manchester in 1903 to study chemistry. He made this pursuit in spite of active discouragement by his parents. He gained his first-class honors degree in 1906. After gaining his master's degree under William Henry Perkin, Jr., he was awarded an 1851 Research Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 and studied at the University of Göttingen earning his PhD degree in Otto Wallach's laboratory after only one year of study. A D.Sc. degree from the University of Manchester followed in 1911, after which he served a short time at the Imperial College of Science and Technology as Senior Demonstrator in Chemistry.

In 1912 Haworth became interested in carbohydrate chemistry, which was being investigated by Thomas Purdie (1843–1916) and James Irvine (1877–1952). Haworth began his work on simple sugars in 1915 and developed a new method for the preparation of the methyl ethers of sugars using methyl sulfate and alkali (now called Haworth methylation). He then began studies on the structural features of the disaccharides.

He was appointed Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Armstrong College of Durham University in 1920.

In 1925 he was appointed Mason Professor of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham. Among his lasting contributions to science was the confirmation of a number of structures of optically active sugars: by 1928, he had deduced and confirmed, among others, the structures of maltose, cellobiose, lactose, gentiobiose, melibiose, gentianose, raffinose, as well as the glucoside ring tautomeric structure of aldose sugars.

In 1933, working with the then Assistant Director of Research (later Sir) Edmund Hirst and a team led by postdoctoral student Maurice Stacey (who in 1956 rose to the same Mason Chair), having properly deduced the correct structure and optical-isomeric nature of vitamin C, Haworth reported the synthesisis of the vitamin. Haworth had been given his initial reference sample of "water-soluble vitamin C" or "hexuronic acid" (the previous name for the compound as extracted from natural products) by Hungarian physiologist Albert Szent-Györgyi, who had codiscovered its vitamin properties along with Charles Glen King, and had more recently discovered that it could be extracted in bulk from Hungarian paprika. In honor of the compound's antiscorbutic properties, Haworth and Szent-Györgyi now proposed the new name of "a-scorbic acid" for the molecule, with L-ascorbic acid as its formal chemical name.

Haworth is commemorated at the University of Birmingham in the Haworth Building, which houses most of the University of Birmingham School of Chemistry. The School has a Haworth Chair of Chemistry.

In 1977 the Royal Mail issued a postage stamp (one of a series of four) featuring Haworth's achievement in synthesizing vitamin C and his Nobel prize.

He also developed a simple method of representing on paper the three-dimensional structure of sugars. The representation, using perspective, now known as a Haworth projection, is still widely used in biochemistry.

He died suddenly from a heart attack on 19 March 1950, his 67th birthday. ...more

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Average rating: 4.0 · 1 rating · 0 reviews · 2 distinct works

	The Constitution of Sugars really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1929	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	HUMANIST AND THE SCIENTIST By Sir Norman Haworth. DR. JOHNSON, THE GREAT ENGLISHMAN. By Laurence W. Meynell. GEORGE FARQUHAR AND LICHFIELD. By Wilard Connely. 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Norman Haworth’s Followers

Norman Haworth

Combine EditionsNorman Haworth’s books

Combine Editions
Norman Haworth’s books