Christian Anfinsen

@Biochemists, Birthday and Life ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Christian Boehmer Anfinsen was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1972 Pennsylvania American University Of Pennsylvania Scientists Biochemists Aries Celebrities Christian Boehmer Anfinsen was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work on the structure of enzymes and the relationship between enzyme functions and the amino acid sequence. He shared the prize with two other American scientists, William Howard Stein and Stanford Moore. From his experiments on the ‘ribonuclease’ enzyme he came to the conclusion that the information regarding the tertiary structure of the enzyme is contained in the sequential structure of the amino acids present along the protein chain. His work led to the understanding of the causes of many diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, mad cow disease, cystic fibrosis, genetic emphysema and many types of cancers. His early work with Steinberg was on the non-uniform labeling of newly synthesized proteins which later helped Canfield and Dintzis to determine that proteins are sequentially synthesized from amino acids ‘in vivo’ and to find out the rate of polymerization of amino acids. In the mid-1950s Anfinsen concentrated on the structure and function of enzymes which helped him suggest the ‘thermodynamic hypothesis’ related to the refolding of many proteins to their native forms even after the cleavage of the disulphide bonds which disrupted the tertiary structure.

Personal Details

Birthday: March 26, 1916 Died on: May 14, 1995 Nationality: American Famous: University Of Pennsylvania, Scientists, Biochemists City/State: Pennsylvania Spouses: Florence Bernice Kenenger, Libby Esther Shulman Ely Childrens: Carol, Christian, Daniel, David, Margot, Mark, Tobie Information Detail Birthday March 26, 1916 Died on May 14, 1995 Nationality American Famous University Of Pennsylvania, Scientists, Biochemists City/State Pennsylvania Spouses Florence Bernice Kenenger, Libby Esther Shulman Ely Childrens Carol, Christian, Daniel, David, Margot, Mark, Tobie Universities University Of Pennsylvania Swarthmore College (BA 1937) University of Pennsylvania (MS 1939) Harvard Medical School (PhD 1943) Notable Alumnis University Of Pennsylvania Birth Place Monessen, Pennsylvania Gender Male Father Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Sr Mother Sophie Rasmussen Anfinsen Sun Sign Aries Born in Monessen, Pennsylvania Famous as Biochemist Died at Age 79

Monessen, Pennsylvania

Christian Anfinsen born at Unsplash Birth Place

He married Florence Bernice Kenenger in November, 1941, and divorced her in 1978. He had two daughters Carol and Margot and a son Christian from this marriage. Unsplash Personal Life

He married Libby Esther Shulman Ely in 1979, and became a stepfather to Libby’s four sons Mark, Tobie, Daniel and David. Unsplash Personal Life

Christian B. Anfinsen died of heart attack at Randallstown, Maryland, on May 14, 1995, at the age of seventy-nine. Unsplash Personal Life

Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Jr. was born in Monessen, Pennsylvania, on March 26, 1916. His father, Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Sr was a mechanical engineer and his mother was Sophie Rasmussen Anfinsen. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He had a sister named Carol. Both his parents were Norwegian immigrants, and lived in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, for several years and before moving to Philadelphia in the 1920s. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Anfinsen joined the ‘Swarthmore College’ after getting a scholarship to study chemistry and worked as a waiter at the dining hall. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He earned his B.S. degree from the ‘Swarthmore College’ in 1937 and joined the ‘University of Pennsylvania’ to pursue graduate studies. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He received his M.S. degree in organic chemistry from the ‘University of Pennsylvania’ in 1939 and worked at the university as an assistant instructor during this period. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

After receiving his PhD degree in 1943, Christian Boehmer Anfinsen taught biological chemistry at the ‘Harvard Medical School’ for the next seven years till 1950, first as an instructor and then as an assistant professor. Unsplash Career

From 1944 to 1946 he served in a civilian research post at the ‘Office of Scientific Research and Development’ in Harvard. Unsplash Career

From 1947 to 1948 he worked at the ‘Medical Nobel Institute’ in Stockholm after being sponsored as a Senior Fellow by the ‘American Cancer Society’ Unsplash Career

In 1950 he became the Director of the ‘Laboratory of Cellular Physiology and Metabolism’ of the ‘National Heart Institute’ a part of the rapidly expanding ‘National Institutes of Health (NIH)’ located at Bethesda, Maryland and held the post till 1954. Unsplash Career

He moved to the ‘Carlsberg Laboratory’ in Copenhagen in 1954 with the help of a ‘Rockfeller Foundation’ fellowship and worked with Kaj Linderstrom-Lang for a year. Unsplash Career

Christian B. Anfinsen published his book ‘The Molecular Basis of Evolution’ in 1959. Unsplash Major Works

Information	Detail
Birthday	March 26, 1916
Died on	May 14, 1995
Nationality	American
Famous	University Of Pennsylvania, Scientists, Biochemists
City/State	Pennsylvania
Spouses	Florence Bernice Kenenger, Libby Esther Shulman Ely
Childrens	Carol, Christian, Daniel, David, Margot, Mark, Tobie
Universities	University Of Pennsylvania Swarthmore College (BA 1937) University of Pennsylvania (MS 1939) Harvard Medical School (PhD 1943)
Notable Alumnis	University Of Pennsylvania
Birth Place	Monessen, Pennsylvania
Gender	Male
Father	Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Sr
Mother	Sophie Rasmussen Anfinsen
Sun Sign	Aries
Born in	Monessen, Pennsylvania
Famous as	Biochemist
Died at Age	79

Christian Anfinsen

American

Mar 26, 1916

Biography

Personal Details

Monessen, Pennsylvania