Adolf Butenandt

Adolf Butenandt (1903–1995) was a German biochemist who isolated and characterized several sex hormones. He received the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which he accepted in 1949.

Leopold Ruzicka: A Croatian-Swiss chemist who synthesized sex hormones and shared the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Butenandt. Ruzicka shared Butenandt’s prize for independent research on sex hormones.
Steroid hormone: A hormone derived from cholesterol that regulates processes including metabolism, inflammation, and reproduction. Butenandt’s best-known isolated hormones belong to this chemical family.
University of Göttingen: A German public research university founded in 1737. Butenandt studied chemistry there and completed his doctoral work under Adolf Windaus.
Nobel Prize controversies: Disputes over Nobel Prize decisions, eligibility, omissions, and political circumstances. Butenandt’s delayed acceptance illustrates how government pressure could obstruct a Nobel laureate.
Bernhard Zondek: A German-Israeli gynecologist and endocrinologist whose research helped establish the hormonal basis of reproductive biology. Zondek’s endocrine research formed part of the scientific context for isolating reproductive hormones.
Androsterone: A weak androgen first isolated from human urine by Butenandt and Kurt Tscherning in 1931. Its isolation demonstrated that male sex hormones could be recovered and studied chemically.
Adolf Windaus: A German chemist whose research on sterols and vitamins earned the 1928 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Windaus supervised Butenandt’s doctoral research and influenced his chemical approach to hormones.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1939: The 1939 chemistry award shared by Adolf Butenandt and Leopold Ruzicka for research on sex hormones. Hitler’s prohibition on accepting foreign honors meant Butenandt did not receive the medal until 1949.
Ernst Laqueur: A Dutch pharmacologist who isolated testosterone with his collaborators in 1935. His group’s testosterone isolation overlapped with Butenandt’s work on the hormone.
Progesterone: A steroid hormone that prepares the uterus for pregnancy and helps maintain it. Butenandt’s group isolated and characterized this ovarian hormone in the 1930s.

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Hans FischerRelated: Butenandt succeeded Fischer in Munich and continued research in organic chemistry.