Skou, Jens Christian << skoh, yehns KREE styahn >> (1918-2018), a Danish physiologist, won half the 1997 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his pioneering work on an enzyme (a substance that speeds up chemical reactions in living cells) involved in the process of energy conversion in living organisms. The other half of the prize was shared by American chemist Paul Boyer and British chemist John Walker. The work of all three scientists involved the chemical adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is essential to life. It plays a central role in the conversion of nutrients into energy used in all life processes. See also Cell (Producing energy) .
Skou was born on Oct. 8, 1918, in Lemvig, in western Denmark. He trained as a doctor at the University of Copenhagen and received his medical degree in 1944. In 1947, he joined the Institute for Medical Physiology at Aarhus University, where he received his doctorate in 1954. He became a professor of physiology at Aarhus in 1963 and was professor of biophysics there from 1977 to 1988.
Since the discovery of ATP in 1929, scientists have worked to explain its role in energy production and how it is formed in the cell. The basic functions of organisms, such as the beating of the heart, the contractions of muscles, and the transmission of nerve impulses, depend on ATP. In the 1950’s, Skou carried out research with cell membranes from the nerves of a crab. He discovered an enzyme that forces sodium and potassium across the membranes–sodium out of the cells and potassium into the cells. This was the first such molecular pump to be discovered. This mechanism, which derives its energy from ATP, is essential for nerve stimulation to move along a nerve fiber or muscle cell. Skou reported his work on the sodium potassium pump in 1957. Skou died on May 28, 2018.
