Search and discovery: A tribute to Albert Szent-Györgyi

by Albert Szent-Györgyi

Search and Tribute to Albert Szent-Györgyi is dedicated to Albert Szent-Györgyi and stems from a Symposium, "Search and Discovery" held in his honor at Boston University School of Medicine. Szent-Györgyi, born in Budapest on September 16, 1893, established the Institute for Muscle Research at the Marine Biological Laboratory in 1947. His influence and impact extend beyond the confines of the laboratory. Throughout his life he was intensely concerned with the serious problems of mankind. He opposed Hitler and Stalin, and was outspoken against the involvement of the U.S. Government in the Vietnam War. Starting with recollections of Albert Szent-Györgyi by John T. Edsall of Harvard University, the remainder of the text is organized into six parts that cover the fields of Szent-Györgyi's major contributions and metabolism, vitamin C, molecular mechanisms of muscle contraction, submolecular biology and cell growth, and cancer; the social interrelations of science were also not neglected. These milestones form the basis of this volume.

344 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1977

About the author

Albert Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt (Hungarian: Nagyrápolti Szent-Györgyi Albert [ˈnɒɟraːpolti ˈsɛntˌɟørɟi ˈɒlbɛrt]; September 16, 1893 – October 22, 1986) was a Hungarian physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937. He is credited with discovering vitamin C and the components and reactions of the citric acid cycle. He was also active in the Hungarian Resistance during World War II and entered Hungarian politics after the war.

Szent-Györgyi was born in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1893. His father, Miklós Szent-Györgyi, was a landowner, born in Marosvásárhely, Transylvania (today Târgu Mureş, Romania). At the time of Szent-Georgyi's birth, the ability to trace one's ancestry was considered important and created opportunities that otherwise were not available. (Miklós Szent-Györgyi's parents were Imre Szent-Györgyi and Mária Csiky). His mother, Jozefina, was a daughter of József Lenhossék and Anna Bossányi. Jozefina was a sister of Mihály Lenhossék; both of these men were Professors of Anatomy at the Eötvös Loránd University. His family included three generations of scientists. Music was important in the Lenhossék family. His mother Jozefina prepared to become an opera singer and auditioned for Gustav Mahler, then a conductor at the Budapest Opera. He advised her to marry instead, since her voice was not enough. Albert himself was good at the piano, while his brother Pál became a professional violinist.

In 1967, Szent-Györgyi signed a letter declaring his intention to refuse to pay taxes in protest against the U.S. war against Vietnam, and urging other people to also take this stand.

He married Cornelia Demény, daughter of the Hungarian Postmaster-General, in 1917.[9] Their daughter, Cornelia Szent-Györgyi, was born in 1918. He and Cornelia divorced in 1941.

In 1941, he wed Marta Borbiro Miskolczy. She died of cancer in 1963.

Szent-Györgyi married June Susan Wichterman, the 25-year-old daughter of Woods Hole biologist Ralph Wichterman, in 1965. They were divorced in 1968.

He married his fourth wife, Marcia Houston, in 1975. They adopted a daughter, Lola Von Szent-Györgyi.

Szent-Györgyi died in Woods Hole, Massachusetts on October 22, 1986. He was Honored with a Google Doodle September 16, 2011, 118 years after his birth. In 2004, nine interviews were conducted with family, colleagues, and others to create a Szent-Györgyi oral history collection.