James Batcheller Sumner (November 19, 1887 – August 12, 1955) was an American chemist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946 with John Howard Northrop and Wendell Meredith Stanley. November 19 is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A chemist pours from a round-bottom flask. ... This is a list of Nobel Prize laureates in Chemistry from 1901 to 2006. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... John Howard Northrop (July 5, 1891 – May 27, 1987) was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946 (with James Batcheller Sumner and Wendell Meredith Stanley) for purifying and crystallizing certain enzymes. ...

[edit] Education

Sumner graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in 1910 where he was acquainted with prominent chemists Roger Adams, Farrington Daniels, Frank C. Whitmore, James Bryant Conant and Charles Loring Jackson. In 1912, he went to study biochemistry in Harvard Medical School and obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1914. He then worked as Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... A bachelors degree (Artium Baccalaureus, A.B. or B.A.) is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or major that generally lasts for three, four, or in some cases and countries, five or six years. ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... Roger Adams (1889–1971) was an American organic chemist. ... Farrington Daniels (1889-1972) is considered one of the pioneers of the modern direct use of solar energy. ... Frank C. Whitmore, nicknamed Rocky, was a chemist who submitted the best piece of evidence for a carbocation mechanism in organic chemistry. ... James Bryant Conant James Bryant Conant (March 26, 1893 - February 11, 1978) was a chemist, educational administrator, and government official. ... Charles Loring Jackson (1847-1935) was the first significant organic chemist in the United States. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes and transformations in living organisms. ... Harvard Medical School (HMS) is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College is the medical school and biomedical research unit of Cornell University. ... Cornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar. ...

[edit] Research

It was at Cornell where Sumner began his research into isolating enzymes in pure form; a feat which had never been achieved before. The enzyme he worked with was urease. Sumner's work was unsuccessful for many years and many of his colleagues were doubtful, believing that what he was trying to achieve was impossible, but in 1926 he discovered that even low molecular weight enzymes could be isolated and crystallized. His successful research brought him to full professorship in 1929. Ribbon diagram of the enzyme TIM, surrounded by the space-filling model of the protein. ... Helicobacter Pylori Urease drawn from PDB 1E9Z. Urease (EC 3. ... 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... Quartz crystal Synthetic bismuth crystal Insulin crystals Gallium, a metal that easily forms large single crystals A huge monocrystal of potassium dihydrogen phosphate grown from solution by Saint-Gobain for the megajoule laser of CEA. In chemistry and mineralogy, a crystal is a solid in which the constituent atoms, molecules... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

[edit] Awards

In 1937, he was given a Guggenheim Fellowship and he spent five months in Sweden working with Professor Theodor Svedberg. Also that year, John Howard Northrop of the Rockefeller Institute obtained crystalline pepsin making it clear that Sumner had devised a general crystallization method for enzymes and he was awarded the Scheele Medal in Stockholm. 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded annually by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. ... Theodor (The) Svedberg (August 30, 1884 – February 25, 1971) was a Swedish chemist and Nobel laureate. ... John Howard Northrop (July 5, 1891 – May 27, 1987) was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946 (with James Batcheller Sumner and Wendell Meredith Stanley) for purifying and crystallizing certain enzymes. ... Rockefeller University is a small private university focusing primarily on graduate education and research in the biomedical fields, located in the southeasternmost corner of the Upper East Side of Manhattan island in New York City, New York. ... Pepsin is a digestive protease (EC 3. ... Nickname: Location of Stockholm in northern Europe Coordinates: Country Sweden Municipality Stockholm Municipality County Stockholm Province Södermanland and Uppland Charter 13th Century Population (April 2007)  - City 782,885  - Density 4,160/km² (10,774. ...

Both Sumner and Northrop shared the Nobel Prize in 1946 for crystallization of enzymes. Sumner was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1948. Sumner died aged 67 of cancer on August 12, 1955. The Nobel Prizes (Swedish: ) are awards in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physiology or Medicine and Economics. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

[edit] Notes

While hunting at age 17, Sumner was accidentally shot by a companion and as a result his left arm had to be amputated just below the elbow.

[edit] External links

• James B. Sumner - biography
• discovery that enzymes can be crystallized.