Tadeus Reichstein

Tadeusz Reichstein
Born	20 July 1897 Włocławek, Congress Poland
Died	August 1, 1996(1996-08-01) (aged 99) Basel, Switzerland
Nationality	Polish, Swiss
Citizenship	Switzerland
Known for	cortisone
Awards	Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1950

Tadeusz Reichstein (20 July 1897 – 1 August 1996) was a Polish-born Swiss chemist, botanist and Nobel laureate.

Reichstein was born into a Jewish family at Włocławek, Congress Poland, and spent his early childhood at Kiev, where his father was an engineer. He began his education at boarding-school in Jena, Germany.

In 1933, working in Zürich, Switzerland, Reichstein made vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in what is now called the Reichstein process.

Reichstein, E.C. Kendall and P.S. Hench were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1950 for their discovery of cortisone.

He died in Basel, Switzerland. The main industrial process for the artificial creation of Vitamin C still bears his name. Reichstein was the longest-lived Nobel laureate at the time of his death, but was beaten in 2008 by Rita Levi-Montalcini.

References

• Rothschild, M (1999), "Tadeus Reichstein: 20 July 1897-1 August 1996.", Biographical memoirs of fellows of the Royal Society. Royal Society (Great Britain) 45: 451–67,

• Sterkowicz, S (1999), "[On the hundredth birthday of the first scientist of Polish ancestry to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine: Tadeusz Reichstein]", Prz. Lek. 56 (3): 245–6,

• Wincewicz A, Sulkowska M, Sulkowski S., A; Sulkowska, M; Sulkowski, S (2007), "Tadeus Reichstein, co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine: on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of his birth in Poland.", Hormones (Athens) 6 (4): 341–3,

      , http://hormones.gr/preview.php?c_id=201 

Other websites

• Brief bio on the Nobel Website