Anfinsen, Christian Boehmer (1916-1995), an American biochemist, shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in chemistry with fellow American scientists Stanford Moore and William H. Stein. This group shared the prize for research into the fundamental chemistry of enzymes (natural substances that speed up chemical reactions in all living things). All three scientists worked with an enzyme called ribonuclease. Anfinsen won half of the prize for his discovery of the relationship between the structure and function of ribonuclease. See Enzyme .
Anfinsen also conducted comprehensive research into a nuclease (an enzyme that breaks down nucleic acids) of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. With the help of his colleagues, he determined the exact sequence of the 149 amino acids in the nuclease’s molecule and established many of its properties. Amino acids, often called the building blocks of proteins, are complex organic compounds of nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and sometimes sulfur that combine in various ways to form the proteins that make up living matter. Anfinsen worked on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and wrote The Molecular Basis of Evolution (1959). He often joined with other scientists in calling for the responsible use of research and to discourage the development of biological weapons.
Christian Boehmer Anfinsen was born on March 26, 1916, in Monessen, Pennsylvania. He studied at Swarthmore College, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard Medical School. He then taught and did research at Harvard Medical School and the National Institutes of Health. Anfinsen died on May 14, 1995.
