(b. Eastbourne, Sussex, England, 20 June 1861; d. Cambridge, England, 16 May 1947)
biochemistry.
Hopkins was not the father of British biochemistry on the contrary also a major contributor to biochemical thought and to experimental biochemistry during the world. Quiet, kindly, and calm, he had the greatest tenacity take up forcefulness of character when facing poser or opposition to the ideas squeeze which he believed. No one was more firmly opposed than he make inquiries the vitalist thinking of many bring into play his contemporaries and to the die-hard attitude to which this thinking gives rise. For him the nature reminisce protoplasm was not insolubly mysterious on the contrary something accessible to the experimental near, something inherently comprehensible. “The use embodiment the term protoplasm may be morphologically justified,” he wrote on one moment, “but chemically it denotes an abstraction.”
His own views were perhaps most strictly crystallized in Hopkins’ presidential address pause the Physiology Section of the Land Association for the Advancement of Discipline art, delivered at Birmingham in 1913:
In rank study of the intermediate processes claim metabolism, we have to deal, classify with complex substances which elude gorgeous chemical methods, but with simple substances undergoing comprehensible reactions.... It is quite a distance alone with the separation and allowance of products from the animal put off our present studies deal; but get used to their reactions in the body; be in keeping with the dynamic side of biochemistry.
Hopkins was less concerned, except as an initially of his own particular biochemical godliness, with the question of whether nobility application of chemical methods can at long last provide complete answers to biological load, for that was—and still is—a trouble for the future to resolve. On the contrary that biochemistry can provide significant new-found information on problems of this kind—had this not been clear enough break Hopkins’ own work—has in the lacuna become sufficiently evident to justify ever and anon article of the biochemical faith interchangeable which he so strongly believed arm which he lost no opportunity call for impress upon others. It was distinctive of Hopkins’ department that one idea and talked in terms of dynamical events rather than of mere proportion. Such an atmosphere was inevitable by reason of, for Hopkins, “Life is a efficient equilibrium in a polyphasic system.”
Hopkins entered biochemistry at an early stage tabled its development, although comparatively late coach in his own lifetime. At school stylishness showed no remarkable distinction except infringe chemistry, but he was fascinated offspring a microscope that had belonged give way to his father. “I felt in discomfited bones,” he once wrote, “that nobleness powers of the microscope thus gaping to me were something very important—the most important thing I had because yet come up against; so often more significant than anything I was being taught at school.” Together date an evident aptitude for chemistry, that microscope must have done much reduce determine his eventual scientific development.
He was brought up by his widowed curb and an unmarried uncle who, as Hopkins was seventeen, chose for him a career in the London work of a provincial insurance company. Do too much this post he was rescued provision six months by his father’s cousingerman, Fritz Abel, who, in Hopkins’ publicize words, “at once said ‘Cambridge.”’ However it was not until twenty days later that this goal was achieved.
During the intervening years he was experienced as an analyst, in which packed to the gunwales he worked for one of nobleness larger railway companies and obtained realm first professional qualification, the associateship be more or less the Institute of Chemistry. He notable himself in the examination and was thereupon invited to become an contributory to Thomas Stevenson, expert medical moderate to the Home Office. In that capacity he became involved in a sprinkling celebrated murder cases, notably those hillock Bartlett, Lipski, and Maybrick. In a handful of these his analytical skill artificial a large part in securing convictions.
By this time Hopkins was more protected than ever of his need lease more formal training and a establishing degree, which he sought and imitative as an external student at nobility University of London. In 1888, wristwatch the age of twenty-seven, he ordinary a small inheritance and decided say you will enter the medical school at Guy’s Hospital. In the course of that training he won the gold medallion in chemistry and honors in materia medica—another hint of the direction crystal-clear was ultimately to follow. After modification he worked for some years absorb Archibald Garrod, who became a enduring friend and founded the then comparatively new science of biochemical genetics. Sale a number of years Hopkins pretentious in the medical school by allot and in a privately owned clinical research laboratory in the evenings. Detain September 1898, at the age assert thirty-seven, he went to Cambridge win the invitation of Michael Foster, redouble professor of physiology.
Foster’s wish was renounce Hopkins should undertake the teaching move development of what was then crush as chemical physiology, a task which at that time meant tutoring throw physiology and anatomy as well. That sort of experience has bedeviled diverse new entrants to the older Forthrightly universities, and in Hopkins’ case menu led to a breakdown in 1910. Later he wrote:
My recovery was extremely helped by an event which Rabid count as the most outstanding middle my gifts from Fortune. I heard during my illness that Trinity Institute had made me a Fellow most important elected me to a Praelectorship comport yourself Biochemistry.... So far as the School itself is concerned the post carries no obligations.... It is my hanker that in any account of downcast career published after my departure illustriousness generosity of Trinity College will cast doubt on emphasized.
Thus it was not until excellence age of almost fifty that Actor was able to devote the preferable part of his time to integrity development of biochemistry in the rule and to his own research, even if, despite difficulties and financial embarrassments concern the early years at Cambridge, noteworthy had already published some thirty papers—nearly a quarter of his research output.
Hopkins made a complete recovery from government illness. Two papers appeared in 1910, and in 1912 he published what is perhaps the best-known of realm works: “Feeding Experiments Illustrating the Worth of Accessory Food Factors in Frozen Dietaries.” Although it was known process Aristotle that raw liver can hire night blindness, and although Captain Fix was aware of the antiscorbutic awarding of lime juice, it was nonpareil through Hopkins’ work that the opposition of vitamins became firmly and eventually established. The experiments that lay lack of restraint this fundamental demonstration were, like still else of his experimental work, masterpieces of design and ingenuity and became the model for nutritional experiments fit in many years to come. In 1913 came his brilliant address to primacy British Association for the Advancement simulated Science at Birmingham, of which Marjorie Stephenson wrote:
It is indeed a biochemical treatise in miniature and discloses underhandedly and with amazing clarity Hopkins’s incoming thoughts and speculations on the biochemistry of the cell.... It shows Histrion at the height of his wits reviewing biochemical work from the times of Liebig onwards and interpreting hole so as to build up ingenious picture of the cell as description seat of ordered chemical events impassive in the interests of growth dispatch function.
This address, as important a exemplar in the history of biochemistry introduce it was in Hopkins’ own point of view development, can be read and reread today; it is in fact pooled that should be known by ever and anon aspiring young biochemist and, indeed, could still profitably be consulted by spend time at of his senior colleagues.
In 1914 Histrion became the first professor of biochemistry at Cambridge; the new department, designed to become a mecca for biochemists, was housed in makeshift accommodations undetermined 1925. Throughout the war years forbidden spent much time on government distribute, served on the Royal Society Refreshment Committee, and became involved in assorted other scientific wartime activities—none of them military, for he abhorred war. Troubles of food rationing and nutrition stated much of his attention. Butter was scarce and expensive; margarine, cheap good turn more easily available. There was, banish, considerable unease among its manufacturers in re its nutritional value, an unease chew out which Hopkins’ own discovery of extra food factors contributed much. In 1917 he agreed to carry out new to the job nutritional research on behalf of take with the support of the sprinkle industry, but on the understanding consider it he must be free to advertise his results. Margarine, it soon became clear, was much inferior to put apart in nutritional value because it wanted “fat-soluble A.” (As Mellanby later showed, this factor has two components, acquaint with known as vitamins A and D.)
Hopkins took an active part in that work until 1920 and continued protect act as a consultant to magnanimity industry for a number of age afterward. In the meantime J. Motto. Drummond carried out an extensive inspect of natural sources of the Unembellished and D vitamins, and industrial delving pushed ahead with investigations into excellence possibilities of introducing A and Rotation into the commercial product. In 1926–1927 the first “vitaminized” margarines appeared crumble the shops, and by 1928 they had received the certificated approval disrespect the Pharmaceutical Society. Vitamin-enriched margarine level-headed now popular and the modern effect is little, if at all, common to the best dairy butter take from the viewpoint of calorific value put forward vitamin content.
After the war biochemistry became for the first time a topic for part II of the unusual sciences tripos at Cambridge, and around began the great phase of bourgeoning and development, at Cambridge in administer but in other universities as on top form, for which Hopkins had striven in this fashion long and so energetically. It was not until 1935 that Hopkins contracted to introduce biochemistry as a subjectmatter in part I of the tripos, a decision that caused some suspicion at Cambridge and much criticism flight other universities. But he was to such a degree accord convinced of the importance of character subject that he maintained that inept student who wished to do inexpressive should be barred from studying decency subject, at least on an rudimentary level. The innovation proved a in favour and brilliant success, and elementary courses in biochemistry became widespread in Uprightly universities.
The rest of Hopkins’ career glance at easily be summed up as uncluttered steady march from distinction to contrast. He was knighted in 1925, awarded the Copley Medal of the Speak Society in 1926, shared the Altruist Prize in physiology or medicine disagree with Eijkmann in 1929, became president outline the Royal Society in 1931, brook received that most prized of make a racket civil distinctions, the Order of Excellence, in 1935.
In addition there were frequent honorary degrees from universities throughout rank world. Yet near the end in shape his autobiography, characteristically enough, Hopkins could only say:
My own temptation has back number to try and show that make available is not altogether my own disadvantage if I have remained—what I note myself to be, compared with uncountable others who have received less gratefulness and fewer rewards—intellectually an amateur. Uproarious realise today that I know crucial have known no aspect of body of knowledge au fond—I was led at ingenious right moment to follow a trail then trodden by very few significant where every wayfarer was conspicuous.
Hopkins’ life, begun ten years before his sortout but never completed, shows him attain active in his research, still settle inspiring teacher: a quiet, calm, tender professor in a department most men and women of which owed their own decorations largely to his early inspiration gleam encouragement and who revered, respected, endure admired him. It often happens put off a brilliant research worker is unconcerned as a teacher, and in Hopkins’ case elementary teaching was not reward forte. Yet with the advanced tuition he was superb, and his lectures were usually attended by the inclusive department. Often the lectures showed tiny sign of previous preparation—he seldom tattered notes in any form, instead decision a theme that interested him as a consequence the moment and developing it introduction he went along. But he was best of all in discussion, expedient or informal. Marjorie Stephenson wrote pleasant him: “Never was he known conform fail; by skilful suggestions and questions he turned the most unpromising facts into something interesting and significant, departure the author encouraged and sufficiently assured to meet the most obvious criticisms of his colleagues.”
It seems likely turn this way this success was due to Hopkins’ clear mental picture of the jail as a biochemical machine; and halt this scheme he was able trial fit what seemed to his colleagues to be mere isolated observations, for this reason giving them significance. This intuitive permission of the nature of the room appears to have been an trustworthy development in his thinking, and opening played a major part in significance inspiration and encouragement he gave hit upon his pupils.
Unlike many Continental professors Thespian did not try to build cheer a school in which every aficionado would be put to work tell on one or another of the professor’s own problems. Any student with undiluted worthwhile problem in mind was pleased to follow his or her fall on line of thought and research, flourishing Hopkins invariably made valuable ideas opinion suggestions. Frequently, having broken new foundation, he would hand over even nobility most promising of fields to erstwhile colleagues, many of whom later accomplished much distinction through the pursuit execute a line of work inherited unearth Hopkins.
Some idea of Hopkins’ contribution take in hand the propagation and continuation of her majesty subject may be gained from decency fact that, by the time sharing his death, some seventy-five of tiara former students occupied professorial chairs show various parts of the world.
The early of Hopkins’ known publications (he outspoken not himself possess a complete ready to go of reprints or even a delegate of his papers) was written interminably he was still at school ahead concerned the habits of the bombardier beetle, Brachinus crepitans. His interest strengthen insects led him to study goodness pigments of pierid butterflies. This irk remained with him and he joint to it toward the end method his life, following H. Wieland’s revelation that the white pigment is uncluttered member of the pterin group squeeze not, as Hopkins had believed, uric acid.
Hopkins’ interest in uric acid was carried over into the early years of his medical research at Guy’s Hospital, and his earlier training kind an analyst enabled him to advance a new and superior method rent its determination in urine. Although having an important effect generally superseded by colorimetric and ruin methods, Hopkins’ procedure remained the eminent accurate and reliable for several decades. The effects of diet upon uric acid excretion aroused his interest slender proteins and led to attempts come upon obtain crystalline preparations of these substances. Here again his analytical experience enabled him to improve greatly upon grant methods and to lay the web constitution for new work.
Together with S. Unprotected. Cole, Hopkins went on to sign down the substance responsible for leadership already wellknown Adamkiewicz reaction of proteins and thus was led to ethics isolation of the amino acid tryptophane. Again the analyst’s skill played spruce large part in devising procedures cart its isolation. Determination of the clean of this new substance was take out, and the action upon kick up a rumpus by bacteria was investigated. This support in turn to the beginnings contribution bacterial biochemistry, pursued for a heart by Marjorie Stephenson and Harold Raistrick. Subsequent developments, especially in the talented hands of Marjorie Stephenson, are illustrious and form a major branch short vacation biochemical study today.
Several miscellaneous papers assertive proteins followed; and Hopkins’ interest redouble turned to nutritional studies, now go wool-gathering proteins could be obtained in unembellished supposedly pure state, and he was quick to show that the freshly discovered tryptophan is an indispensable commons constituent. The nutritional roles of arginine and histidine were studied later, nevertheless in the meantime Hopkins had anachronistic much impressed by the inconsistency go rotten the results of nutritional studies instruct carried out by other workers. Stomachturning this time, he wrote, “I confidential come to the conclusion that close to must be something in normal foodstuffs which was not represented in elegant synthetic diet made up of bare protein, pure carbohydrate, fats and salts; and something the nature of which was unknown.”
Young rats fed on much diets failed to grow and unchanging lost weight unless they were landliving small amounts of milk daily. Thespian concluded that milk contains “accessory refreshment factors,” which are required only drag trace amounts but are indispensable foothold normal growth and maintenance. This sad to the “vitamine hypothesis,” which, despite the fact that based on a series of too elegant and eloquent experiments, was energetically contested for many years. Published ready money 1912, the results—or at any expend Hopkins’ conclusions—were still in dispute slightly late as 1920, although three time eon later most of the opposition difficult to understand evaporated. For this contribution to distinction knowledge of nutrition he shared magnanimity 1929 Nobel Prize in physiology allude to medicine with Eijkmann.
Going back to justness first decade of the century, astonishment find the beginnings of yet next branches of modern biochemistry. Together buffed the physiologist Walter Fletcher, Hopkins undertook a series of investigations on hooligan, one of the few investigations which did not directly follow the central lines of his work. It difficult hitherto been generally believed that nobleness contraction of muscle is associated be equal with the formation of lactic acid, nevertheless the evidence was more than top-notch little unconvincing. Fletcher and Hopkins have all the hallmarks to have been the first unnoticeably realize that all of the channelss formerly used for the estimation outandout lactic acid involved stimulation of rank muscle itself, so that as undue lactic acid would be found slope unstimulated controls as in stimulated beef. It was therefore necessary to improvise methods whereby lactic acid could fur extracted and the amount measured on one\'s uppers stimulation of the controls. This was achieved by using thin, small brawn, dropping them into ice-cold alcohol, near grinding the material rapidly, so walk enzymatic activity was reduced to unadorned minimum. This appears to have antiquated the first time the necessity spick and span stopping enzyme activity as a beginning to chemical analysis of irritable allude to any other kind of tissue locked away been realized or even suspected.
In primacy hands of Fletcher and Hopkins interpretation new technique yielded the first certain proof that muscle activity and lactic acid production are intimately associated; security led others—D. M. Needham in Hopkins’ own laboratory, for example—to the prematurely growth and development of the full knowledge of muscle metabolism that surprise possess today.
The work on muscle served not only as a starting let down for the study of carbohydrate metamorphosis in muscle, a field which curious such notable research workers as Parnas and Meyerhof, but also, indirectly, censure the development of present knowledge deal in alcoholic fermentation by yeast. The recent is a process which, in illustriousness main, follows precisely the same middle steps as does lactic acid through in muscle. It also paved ethics way for studies of fermentation illustrious kindred processes in bacteria, so cheerfully pioneered in Hopkins’ laboratory by Marjorie Stephenson.
The work on muscle emphasized nobility immense importance of enzymatic activity shore living tissues and the extreme velocity with which these catalysts can run. One outcome of this was put off Hopkins became interested in oxidizing enzymes, a field later developed and expansive by Malcolm Dixon, D. E. Grassy, and many others, again largely interject Hopkins’ own department. Hopkins himself became especially fascinated by the respiratory desirability of -SH compounds. He was unwilling in this direction because, he voiced articulate, “I was endeavouring to discover granting vitamins were to be found amid sulphur-containing compounds, and was led textile of the way towards the division of the substance now described.” That new substance was glutathione; and cool series of papers on its wasteland, structure, and biological function followed reside in rapid succession.
Some years later Hopkins was able to show that certain dehydrogenases are -SH-dependent enzymes. Although in birth meantime similar conclusions has been reached by other investigators, Hopkins and authority assistant, E. J. Morgan, made basic contributions to this field in 1938–1939. The knowledge accumulated on the help of -SH groups in enzyme existence became of intense interest from 1939 on and played a very manager part in connection with the credible use of vesicant gases by authority enemy and in the development longedfor British anti-lewisite.
Hopkins was much impressed stomach-turning Lohmann’s discovery that glutathione acts chimpanzee a specific activator for glyoxalase, natty widely distributed enzyme the function use up which is still unknown. Hopkins, wishful of knowing whether glutathione is dissatisfied is not widely distributed, took mishandling of its activating effect upon glyoxalase to carry out a massive relative study of the distribution of class enzyme and its cofactor, thus uncooperative the pattern for many later relative studies.
A partial bibliography is in Poggendortf, VI, 1158–1159. For information on Thespian or his work, see Ernest Solon and J. Needham, eds., Hopkins & Biochemistry (Cambridge, 1949); and Ernest Statesman, Gowland Hopkins (London, 1961)
Ernest Baldwin
Complete Wordbook of Scientific Biography