Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen

On August 6, 1979, he passed away in Munich and was buried in Lock Leutstetten, Germany.

He was born on April 6, 1911, in Munich, Germany, in the family of Wilhelm Lynen and Frieda Lynen as the seventh child among their eight children. His father was a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the ‘Technical University of Munich’.

He completed his high school education from ‘Luitpold-Gymnasium’ in Munich. Following his interest in chemistry he enrolled at the ‘University of Munich’ in the chemistry department in 1930.

He came under the guidance of imminent professors like Heinrich Wieland, Walter Gerlach, Kasimir Fajans and Otto Hönigschmidt. Heinrich Wieland, a Nobel Laureate for chemistry, under whose guidance he completed his graduation, left a great impression on him and from this time on he got acquainted with the field of biochemistry.

He completed his PhD on February 12, 1937, after submitting his work ‘On the Toxic Substances in Amanita’.

Throughout the ‘Second World War’ he remained in Germany and never left his country.

He joined the ‘University of Munich’ as a chemistry lecturer in 1942 and after few years he was made the assistant professor in 1947. 1953 onwards he served as a professor of biochemistry.

He remained associated with the university till his death. During his tenure in the university he supervised research work of around ninety students of whom many achieved great heights in academia or industry.

In the 1940s he started examining the way living cell transforms simple chemical compounds into complex molecules like lipids and sterols, which are essential requirements for the body to maintain life.

After the ‘Second World War’, he began publishing his own scientific findings and also came to know about similar research being undertaken by Konrad Bloch in the US. With time the two scientists started sharing their findings with each other.

The repercussion of the ‘Second World War’ saw the American and European scientists spurning their German counterparts. Thus only four biochemists from Germany were invited, of whom Lynen was one, for the ‘First International Congress of Biochemistry’ that was held in July 1949 in Cambridge, UK. With his good nature and sound research work he caught attention of many. Years later in 1975 he was selected as President of the ‘Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’, which aimed at promoting good relation between international scientific community and Germany.

His discoveries related to mechanics and control of cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism showed the significance of cholesterol in human body and also contributed in aiding further research to find out the affect of cholesterol with regard to stroke and other heart related ailments.