Richard Kuhn
(born Dec. 3, 1900,
Vienna
, Austria-Hungary?died Aug. 1, 1967,
Heidelberg
, W.Ger.) was a German biochemist who was awarded the 1938
Nobel Prize
for Chemistry for work on
carotenoids
and vitamins. Forbidden by the Nazis to accept the award, he finally received his diploma and gold medal after
World War II
.
Kuhn took his doctorate from the
University of Munich
in 1922 for work on enzymes under
Richard Willstatter
. He spent 1926?29 at the technical school in Zurich and then became professor at the
University of Heidelberg
and director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research (later renamed for Max Planck) at Heidelberg.
Kuhn investigated the structure of
compounds
related to the carotenoids, the fat-soluble yellow colouring agents widely distributed in nature. He discovered at least eight carotenoids, prepared them in pure form, and determined their constitution. He discovered that one was necessary for the fertilization of certain algae. Simultaneously with
Paul Karrer
he announced the constitution of
vitamin B
2
and was the first to isolate a gram of it. With coworkers he also isolated
vitamin B
6
. From 1948 he was an editor of
Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie
(“Justus Liebig’s Annals of Chemistry”).