Albrecht Kossel Biography

Albrecht Kossel, a distinguished German biochemist and pioneer in the field of genetics, made significant contributions to the study of nucleic acids. His groundbreaking research on the chemical composition of these genetic substances led to his recognition with the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1910. Through various techniques, including hydrolysis, Kossel and his students were able to isolate and determine the five organic compounds or nucleobases of nucleic acids. These nucleobases, such as adenine and thymine, play a crucial role in the formation of DNA and RNA, the genetic material found in living cells. In addition to his work on nucleic acids, Kossel also conducted extensive research on protein composition, discovering important amino acids such as histidine. Throughout his career, he held prestigious positions as a professor and director at institutions such as the University of Marburg and the Heidelberg Institute for Protein Investigation. Kossel’s influence extended beyond his own research, as he collaborated with prominent biochemists such as Henry Drysdale Dakin and Edwin B. Hart. He also played a significant role in the publication of the ‘Zeitschrift für Physiologische Chemie’, a renowned scientific journal founded by his mentor Felix Hoppe-Seyler.

Quick Facts

  • German Celebrities Born In September
  • Died At Age: 73
  • Family:
    • Spouse/Ex-: Luise Holtzman
    • Father: Albrecht Karl Ludwig Enoch Kossel
    • Mother: Clara Jeppe Kossel
    • Children: Walther Kossel
  • Biochemists
  • German Men
  • Died on: July 5, 1927
  • Place of death: Heidelberg
  • City: Rostock, Germany
  • More Facts
  • Education: University of Strasbourg, University of Rostock
  • Awards: 1910 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Childhood & Early Life

Albrecht Kossel was born on September 16, 1853, in Rostock, Germany, to Albrecht Karl Ludwig Enoch Kossel and Clara Jeppe Kossel as their eldest son. His father was a Prussian consul and merchant. He completed his secondary education at the Gymnasium at Rostock and showed great interest in botany and chemistry.

In the autumn of 1872, he joined the newly established ‘University of Strassburg’ and studied medicine there. He came under the guidance of the Head of Department of Biochemistry, Felix Hoppe-Seyle and was highly influenced by the lectures and practical lessons of the latter as also other professors such as Waldeyer, Anton de Bary, Baeyer and August Kundt. He finished his studies in his hometown at the ‘University of Rostock’ and in 1877 cleared the German medical licence exam.

Career

In 1877, he began working as research assistant to his former professor Felix Hoppe-Seyler at the ‘University of Strassburg’. Earlier in 1869, Friedrich Miescher, a former student of Felix Hoppe-Seyler, researched in the latter’s laboratory at the ‘University of Tübingen’, Germany, and discovered nucleins that he isolated chemically from pus cells. Miescher validated that nucleins were more acidic and phosphate-rich substances, which differed chemically from protein.

Kossel manifested that the substance called nuclein, present in the nucleus of a cell, consisted of protein and non-protein constituents. This substance contains generic information of living cells and is presently known as nucleic acid. He made contributions to early publications of the journal ‘Zeitschrift für Physiologische Chemie’ (Journal of Physiological Chemistry), which was founded in 1877 by Felix Hoppe-Seyler. Following the death of Hoppe-Seyler in 1895, Kossel became the editor of the journal and remained so until his death. He earned his degree of ‘Doctor of Medicine’ in 1878.

Kossel left Strassburg in 1883 to join the ‘University of Berlin’ as Director of the Chemistry Division of the university’s ‘Physiological Institute’, succeeding Eugen Baumann. His work was supervised by Emil du Bois-Reymond, upon whose call he joined the ‘University of Berlin’. He furthered his research on nucleic acid and during the period, 1885-1901, he successfully examined and isolated its five components. He named the five organic compounds as thymine, cytosine, adenine, guanine and uracil, which are now collectively called nucleobases. These nucleobases are essential in providing the molecular structures required in formation of stable molecules of the two nucleic acid types, DNA and RNA.

He relocated to the town of Marburg in the central German state of Hessen in April 1895, where he served as Ordinary Professor of Physiology and Director of the ‘Institute of Physiology’ at the ‘University of Marburg’. During this time he started examining the chemical composition of proteins, the changes in proteins during transformation into peptone, the simplest proteins, cells’ peptide components, the effects of a phenetol diet on urine and made many such investigations. He discovered α-amino acid, histidine, used in the biosynthesis of proteins. He further worked out the procedure to quantitatively separate the hexone bases (the α-amino acids namely lysine, histidine and arginine).

Awards & Achievements

His research work on cell biology and his contributions in analysis of chemical composition of nucleic acids won him the ‘Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine’ on December 10, 1910.

Personal Life & Legacy

He married Luise Holtzman in 1886. She was the daughter of Adolf Holtzmann, a noted philologist and Professor at the ‘University of Heidelberg’. The couple had three children of whom son Walther (born: 1888) and daughter Gertrude (born: 1889) survived to maturity. His son Walther Kossel was a noted physicist, who worked as a professor of Theoretical Physics and Director of ‘Physics Institute’ at the ‘University of Tübingen’. Walther Kossel was best known for the discovery of the ‘Sommerfeld–Kossel displacement law’. Albrecht Kossel succumbed to recurring attack of angina pectoris on July 5, 1927. He was buried in Heidelberg, Germany.

Trivia

The ‘Albrecht Kossel Institute for Neuroregeneration’ at the ‘University of Rostock’ is named after him.

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