Tadeus Reichstein, co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine: on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of his birth in Poland.
Tadeus Reichstein (1897-1996) was the first scientist born in Poland to receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology (1950) for the "discovery of hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects", as stated by the Nobel Prize Committee. His family being deeply devoted to Polish cultural and historical heritage, his first name was given to him after Tadeus Kosciuszko, a chief commander of the 18th century Polish uprising named the Kosciuszko Insurrection. As a child, he emigrated with his family to Switzerland, where he was much later to become involved in numerous research studies on steroids on an international scale. It was Tadeus Reichstein who isolated and synthesized desoxycorticosterone, which still remains the drug of first choice in the treatment of Addison's disease. Additionally, thanks to his strategy for the mass production of Vitamin C, the cost of this agent was drastically reduced thus enabling its widespread therapeutic use. In our divided world so often torn by tremendous conflicts, there is a great need to both remember and commemorate such distinguished people as Tadeus Reichstein who, despite the apparent "borders" between different nationalities and cultures, have demonstrated through their work the huge need for harmonious collaboration in the development of science.
Department of Medical and General Pathomorphology, Medical University of Bialystok, Waszyngtona 13, 15-269, Bialystok, Poland. ruahpolin@yahoo.com
Andrzej
A
Wincewicz
Mariola
M
Sulkowska
Stanislaw
S
Sulkowski
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000266:history; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009613:Nobel Prize; D010827:Physiology / Q000266:history*; D011044:Poland; D013557:Switzerland
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D001205:Ascorbic Acid