Alexander Todd is known for his work on the chemistry of nucleotides, his work on Vitamin B1 and for unravelling the chemical structure of vitamin B12. Alexander Todd’s groundbreaking work on the structure of nucleic acids, not only led to Watson & Crick discovering the structure of DNA, but also helped in understanding the highly complex processes of nature and life, such as genetic characteristics and genetic diseases, and how these are passed on from one generation to the next.

Alexander Robertus Todd (Lord Todd) developed an interest in chemistry as an eight-year old while experimenting with iron filings from a toy chemistry set. Around four decades later, he was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and was ranked among the leading biochemists in the world. His award-winning work on the chemistry of nucleotides paved the way for Watson & Crick’s discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, an achievement that won these two scientists the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

Another Nobel Laureate whose work had a connection with Alexander Todd’s research was the Indian origin biochemist Har Gobind Khorana. It was while doing postdoctoral research under Todd in his laboratory at Cambridge University that Khorana developed an interest in studying proteins and nucleic acids. He went on to win the Nobel in 1968 for cracking the genetic code.

Dr. Todd had a reputation for being very strict, but his students and peers respected his quality of straightforwardness and his loyalty to those who collaborated with him. When he was informed of being named as a winner of the Nobel Prize for his years of research on proteins, particularly nucleotides and nucleotide co-enzymes, he remarked that the news made him feel “slightly ludicrous”. He said the honour was “much more of a tribute to a lot of the boys” who had worked with him.

A couple of years earlier, in 1955, Todd had helped solve one of the most perplexing puzzles in chemistry at that time—the chemical structure of Vitamin B12. When interviewed by the press about this great achievement, on that occasion too he had emphasised the contributions of his collaborators and members of his research team.

Early life

Alexander R. Todd was born in Glasgow on 2 October, 1907, into a family that wasn’t too well off. He studied at Allan Glen’s School and then joined the University of Glasgow. Todd’s excellent academic performance during the first year got him a scholarship for the rest of the graduate course in Chemistry which he completed with First Class Honours.

After that, he went to Germany, and in 1931 received a Ph.D. from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt for his thesis on the chemistry of bile acids. On returning to England, he applied for and received a Research Fellowship from the ‘Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851’. This allowed him to join Oxford University to work under Sir Robert Robinson who later on received the 1947 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Todd earned his second doctorate degree at Oxford.

When George Barger, professor of medical chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, sought Robinson’s advice for carrying out research on Vitamin B1, Robinson suggested Todd’s name because of his interest in working on natural products and the knowledge of microchemical techniques that he had acquired in Germany. And so, Todd was offered a grant from the Medical Research Council to study the structure of vitamin B1 at the University of Edinburgh. And although scientists in America and Germany beat him in the race for synthesising the vitamin, it was Todd’s synthesis that was found to be more elegant and better suited for commercial production.

At Edinburgh, Todd met Alison Dale, daughter of Nobel Prize laureate Henry Hallett Dale and a postgraduate researcher in the University’s pharmacology department. They got married in 1937, and soon afterwards Todd accepted the position of lecturer in biochemistry at the Lister Institute in London.

Career as an academic and researcher

Todd had begun researching the chemistry of Vitamin E towards the end of his stint in Edinburgh. At the Lister Institute he continued this investigation and also began studying the active ingredients in cannabis (marijuana).

He was barely 30 when he was offered the Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Manchester, then considered to be one of the three most distinguished chairs in Britain. At that time, there was a lot of uncertainty about the structure of some known nucleosides and nucleotides. Todd focused on establishing their structure and also began to synthesise nucleotide coenzymes. He continued with this line of research even after his appointment to the Chair of Organic Chemistry at Cambridge University in 1944. He and his team ultimately succeeded in discovering the structure of nucleosides and in 1949, accomplished the challenging feat of synthesising adenosine triphosphate (ATP). His pioneering work on nucleosides and nucleotides—the building blocks of DNA and RNA—earned him the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1957.

Todd spent most of his academic career as the Chair of Organic Chemistry at Cambridge University, holding this position from 1944 till his retirement in 1971. When he arrived at Cambridge, the Department of Chemistry was badly in need of revitalisation. In a short period of time, he and his dedicated team modernised the laboratories and remarkably transformed the Department’s intellectual environment as well as the working conditions.
Dr. Todd also taught at the California Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Sydney, and Notre Dame University as a visiting professor. He served as the Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde from 1965 to 1991.

Exemplary achievements

Alexander Todd’s groundbreaking work on the structure of nucleic acids, not only led to Watson & Crick discovering the structure of DNA, but also helped in understanding the highly complex processes of nature and life, such as genetic characteristics and genetic diseases, and how these are passed on from one generation to the next.

Also, Todd’s research on Vitamin B1 and his discovery of the exact structure of Vitamin B12, made it possible to produce these vitamins synthetically for commercial application.
As the Chair of Organic Chemistry at Cambridge, Dr. Todd had inherited an ill-equipped department. The transformation he helped bring about, elevated it to one of the leading schools of chemistry in the world, a position it holds till today.

As a renowned organic chemist in Britain, Todd had the ability to attract and inspire highly skilled co-workers from across the world. His team at Manchester had proudly called themselves The Toddlers!

Honours and recognitions

Todd’s honours are too numerous to mention in one article. From 1952 to 1964, he held the position of chairman of the advisory council on scientific policy to the British government. He was knighted as Sir Alexander Todd in 1954 for distinguished service to the government and was given a life peerage and named Lord Todd, Baron Todd of Trumpington in 1962. He was made a member of the Order of Merit in 1977. From 1975 to 1980, he served as the President of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

In December 2005, on the 50th anniversary of the paper co-authored by Todd on ‘The First Chemical Synthesis of a Nucleotide’, the Royal Society of Chemistry installed a blue plaque in honour of Lord Todd at Cambridge University’s Department of Chemistry.

Todd Almighty

Lord Alexander Todd died at the age of 89 at his home in Cambridge on 10 January, 1997, following a heart attack.

Affectionately called Todd Almighty by his students, he was remembered by those who had known him as an outstanding scientist with an extraordinary memory and a great fondness for cigarettes.

In fact, in his autobiography—A Time to Remember—Todd mentions an interesting incident in 1941 while he was on a visit to the Defence Research Establishment at Porton when he walked into a restaurant on the premises and was delighted to see the barman was serving not just drinks, but cigarettes too. But when he asked for cigarettes, the barman informed him he had orders to offer cigarettes to people according to their rank—20 for officers, 10 for those ranked lower—and asked him for his.

In Todd’s words, here’s what happened next:
Now I really wanted those cigarettes so I drew myself up and said ‘I am the Professor of Chemistry at Manchester University.’

The barman contemplated on this for about thirty seconds and then said ‘I’ll give you five.’
Since that day I have had few illusions about the importance of professors!

Lord Todd had an imposing height of 6 ft 4 inches, but he soared to much greater heights as one of the world’s renowned organic chemists.

References

1. NobelPrize.org: Lord Todd – Biographical – Nobel Media AB 2019, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1957/todd/biographical/
2. University of Cambridge: Memories of Lord Todd – https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/alumni/memories-lord-todd
3. John Cornforth: Obituary: Lord Todd – Independent, 16 January 1997. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-lord-todd-1283405.html
4. Royal Society of Chemistry: Plaque in Cambridge to honour the man who made DNA decoding possible – www.rcs.org, 9 December, 2005, https://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/News/PressReleases/2005/LordTodd.asp
5. Revolvy.con: Alexander R. Todd – https://www.revolvy.com/page/Alexander-R.-Todd?cr=1
6. Wolfgang Saxon: Lord Todd, 89, a Nobelist For Work on Nucleic Acids – New York Times, 15 Jan, 1997, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/15/world/lord-todd-89-a-nobelist-for-work-on-nucleic-acids.html
7. James Baddiley: Alexander Robertus, Baron Todd Of Trumpington – https://www.rse.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/obits_alpha/todd_lord.pdf
8. M. A. Shampo, R. A. Kyle, D. P. Steensma: Alexander Todd–British Nobel laureate – Mayo Clin Proc., March 2012; 87(3): e19, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3498063/.

Acknowledged as an authority on chemical kinetics and chain reactions and later on for his research on the kinetics of bacterial growth, the British physical chemist Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood was awarded the Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1956 jointly with Nikolay Semenov. The Soviet physicist was honoured for his independent research on the mechanism of chemical transformation.

Hinshelwood’s research on explosives and bacterial cell chemistry paved the way for research on antibiotics and other therapeutic agents. He was knighted in 1948 and received the Order of Merit in 1960.

Early years

Born in London on June 19, 1897, Cyril Norman Hinshelwood was the only child of Ethel Smith and Norman Macmillan Hinshelwood, a chartered accountant. His father passed away when he was just seven years old. Although many of his relatives were artistically inclined, he was the first in his family to pursue a career in science.

Hinshelwood was educated at Westminster City School and then at Balliol College of the University of Oxford from where he earned his Master of Arts and Doctor of Science degrees in 1920, completing both courses in just one year. Before studying at Oxford, he worked briefly from 1916-18 at a WWI explosives supply factory as a laboratory chemist. Here, his remarkable aptitude for scientific work was noticed and earned him the nickname of ‘boy wonder’. His work involving the slow decomposition of solid explosives by measuring the gas evolved sparked an interest in studying the mechanism of chemical change, a topic that became the main focus of all his research work later on.

From 1921-1937, Hinshelwood tutored at Trinity College, and in 1937 was appointed as Dr. Lee’s Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford.

As a tutor and professor, he was known for simplifying complex subject matters, motivating students to think and take an interest in understanding and studying different topics. He was also very appreciative of the students who engaged in research activities under his supervision and never failed to acknowledge the work they did. Many of his students went on to achieve success in the chemical industry, while others became academics in Britain and abroad.

Scientific achievements

Sir Cyril Hinshelwood commenced his research work at Oxford, measuring the rate of decomposition of solid mixtures under diverse conditions and then moved on to studying gaseous reactions. In 1926, he published the classic text Kinetics of Chemical Change of which several editions were printed. A year later, he started the work for which he is most recognised. He began researching the kinetics of the chemical reaction between the two basic natural elements—hydrogen and oxygen—and showed that the formation of water from the combination of these two is a chain reaction. (While investigating the kinetics of chemical transformation, Nikolay studied the reaction between phosphorus and oxygen.)
Hinshelwood showed that chain reactions can be branched and radicals play a key role in these kinds of reactions, and also that his theories on chain reactions tallied with observations of the reaction between oxygen and hydrogen. Another aspect he confirmed was that surfaces are an important factor in many chemical reactions. He also found that certain chemical processes are controlled by the volume, others by the surface of the vessel in which the reaction takes place. Hinshelwood’s work had practical implications for everyday life. For instance, his study of reaction mechanisms facilitated the synthesis of common household synthetic polymers.

By the late 1930s, Hinshelwood turned his attention to biology. He believed that the behaviour of simple organisms like bacteria could be explained through the laws of physics. He therefore carried out a number of experiments on the growth and adaptation of bacterial cells. His work made it possible to study the nature and role of vitamins and bacterial resistance to antibiotics. He published over 130 papers on his work on bacterial growth. His book Chemical Kinetics of the Bacterial Cell was published in 1946.
Convinced of the importance of RNAs in the synthesis of proteins and DNA as a controller of cell division, he studied the distinct behaviour of these two nucleic macromolecules under different growth conditions. Hinshelwood is acknowledged to have been the first to propose through an article published in 1950 that the nucleic acid determines the sequence of amino acids in the synthesis of proteins. What he had proposed brought him very close to understanding the nature of DNA whose structure was discovered three years later by Jim Watson and Francis Crick. Though not much attention was given to Hinshelwood’s proposal then, his contribution towards understanding how DNA might work was acknowledged by Crick in 1966.

Philosopher-scientist, linguist, and polymath

Sir Cyril Hinshelwood was acclaimed not just as a pioneering physical chemist but also as a scholar whose knowledge and interests extended beyond the realm of science. He was knowledgeable about literature and poetry and topics ranging from Beethoven’s music to Chinese pottery and Persian carpets. His vibrant classical and philosophical background shone through in his talks which invariably revealed deep insights into the philosophical implications of his subject.

He considered scientific research to be a creative activity and science as one of the most humane studies. In his talks, he deplored the fact that philosophical aspects were often ignored in science and that there was an unhealthy indifference to the relationship of science to existence in general. He often focused on the ‘internal and external world’, stressing that moral qualities cannot be explained by natural selection, human behaviour is not machine-like, human consciousness should not be underestimated, and that the mind-matter relation cannot be ignored in an intelligent consideration of existence. He believed that art and science have similar roots and that “The paths of art and poetry, science and religion are the means by which man grasps the universe, surrenders himself to it, identifies himself with it, loses himself in it…”

Even audiences outside the scientific fields whom he was often invited to address on the mystery and wonder of Nature, used to be captivated by his eloquence, clarity of thought, and vast knowledge.

It is believed that Hinshelwood learnt a new language during every long vacation he took. He was well-versed in several modern and classical languages and even studied Chinese and Arabic. He compared the learning of a language to “the exploration of a new land, the savouring of a new form of art”.

Awards and recognition

Hinshelwood received numerous civil, scientific, and academic honours that included prizes, medals, and honorary degrees and fellowships. He was offered honorary memberships of renowned scientific societies in many countries. Besides the Royal Society, he served as the President of the Chemical Society, the Faraday Society, and also the Classical Association that promotes the study of the languages, literature, and civilisation of ancient Greece and Rome.

Hinshelwood remained a bachelor all his life and was devoted to his widowed mother with whom he often spent time in their London flat till she died in 1959. Often, when she visited him at Oxford during the vacations, they would travel together abroad.

On retiring from his Chair at Oxford in 1964, he moved back to his family apartment in London. He was alone at home when he passed away on 9 October 1967, just eight years after his mother. A few years after his demise, his Nobel Prize medal was sold as part of his estate. The medal was bought by an anonymous coin dealer in the 1970s and was put up for auction at Julien’s Auctions in California in November, 2017.

On that occasion, the founder of the auction house, Darren Julien, said, “We are honoured and delighted to be able to offer this historic medal which commemorates some outstanding scientific work by one of the greatest minds in his field of chemistry. It highlights how one avenue of science—explosives—can lead to advances in another, medicine.”

References

1. Nobelprize.org: Sir Cyril Hinshelwood–Biographical–Nobel Media AB 2019, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1956/hinshelwood/biographical/
2. Sir Harold Thompson: Cyril Norman Hinshelwood– Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Volume 19 (375-431)
3. Emma Stoye: Hinshelwood’s 1956 chemistry Nobel prize medal to be auctioned – Chemistry World, 3 November 2017, https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/hinshelwoods-1956-chemistry-nobel-prize-medal-to-be-auctioned /3008228.article
4. ArtDaily.org: Nobel Prize medal awarded to British scientist in 1956 for sale at Julien’s Auctions – http://artdaily.com/news/99919/Nobel-Prize-medal-awarded-to-British-scientist-in-1956-for-sale-at-Julien-s-Auctions#.XQfYH7wzY2w
5. Michel Morange: Cyril Norman Hinshelwood (1897–1967) – A chemical dynamic vision of the organic world – Journal of Biosciences 33 (5) December 2008, https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/jbsc/033/05/0669-0672
6. John Daintith, Sarah Mitchell: Hinshelwood, Sir Cyril Norman – Biographical Encyclopaedia of Scientists, Volume 1 (419-420)
7. World Heritage Encyclopaedia: Cyril Norman Hinshelwood –http://www.worldheritage.org/articles/eng/Cyril_Norman_Hinshelwood
8. Elizabeth H. Oakes: Hinshelwood, Cyril – Encyclopaedia of World Scientists, pp 336.

He may be best remembered by ordinary people for advocating the use of high doses of Vitamin C for good health. But scientists respect and revere Linus Pauling as a remarkable chemist who achieved a string of amazing breakthroughs in diverse scientific fields. For many, after Albert Einstein, he is the second-most important scientist of the twentieth century. For still others, he is one of the greatest chemists of all time.

Widely acknowledged as the founder of molecular biology, quantum chemistry, and molecular genetics, Pauling was a prolific researcher whose work not only vastly increased our understanding of chemical bonding and chemical structure, but also endowed chemistry with a number of critically important concepts that have become commonplace today, like, for example, valence bond theory, electronegativity, resonance, and orbital hybridization. Pauling’s discovery of the alpha-helix structure of proteins cleared the path for the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA in 1953 by James Watson and Francis Crick. Pauling also made the ground-breaking discovery that sickle-cell anaemia is caused by malformed haemoglobin molecules and correctly postulated a new class of disease – molecular disease. No wonder Crick suggested that this consummate American scientist “should be regarded as the father of molecular biology”.

The only person to receive two unshared Nobel Prizes

Only two persons in Nobel Prize history have been awarded the prize in two different fields. The first was Madame Marie Sklodowska Curie who won the Nobel in Physics as well as Chemistry; the second was Linus Pauling awarded the Nobel in Chemistry and the Peace prize too. But as the sole recipient of both his Nobel prizes (Madame Curie shared her Physics Nobel with her husband Pierre and Henri Becquerel), Pauling achieved a feat that has not yet been matched by any other person.

Pauling’s first Nobel Prize was in Chemistry awarded to him in 1954 “for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances”. Eight years later, in 1962, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his dedication and commitment to humanitarianism, world peace, and nuclear disarmament.

On several occasions, Pauling had openly credited his wife Ava Helen Miller, also actively involved in peace movements, with bringing about the development of his social consciousness. He said she should have been picked for the Nobel Peace Prize instead of him or at least the two of them should have been given the prize jointly.

Assistant chemistry instructor at eighteen

Born on February 28, 1901 in Portland, Oregon, USA, Linus Carl Pauling was the first of three children born to Lucy Isabelle Darling and Herman Pauling, a pharmaceuticals salesman struggling to make ends meet. Unfortunately, when Linus was just nine years old, Herman died at the age of 33 of a perforated ulcer.

By the age of 15, Linus had enough school credits to go to college. He however still needed two mandatory civics credits to get his high school diploma. Though he promised to pass these exams while pursuing his college studies, his school – Washington High School, Portland – did not agree to this. But he left school anyway, and realising he would have to pay for his own college education, took up different odd jobs including delivering milk and working as a shipyard labourer. For a while he also worked as an apprentice machinist, and then at 16, enrolled at Oregon State Agricultural College in Corvallis (today’s Oregon State University) to study for a chemical engineering degree.

Recognising he was a brilliant student, the College helped him support his education and his sick mother by appointing him as an assistant chemistry instructor. He was just 18 then, and it was a hard task for him to work for 40 hours a week and yet make time for studies. Sadly, his mother died soon after that. It was at this college that Linus met his future wife, one of his students at that time. After graduating in chemical engineering, he completed his Ph. D. in physical chemistry and mathematical physics in 1925 from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) with the highest honours. While studying at Caltech, he used the relatively new technique of X-ray diffraction to study the structure of crystals.

Thereafter, a Guggenheim Fellowship made it possible for him to study quantum mechanics in Europe for two years and acquire a better understanding of the behaviour of electrons in atoms. On returning to Caltech in 1927, he taught chemistry while at the same time carrying out research work in structural chemistry. He spent over three decades here as a teacher and researcher and then taught chemistry at Stanford University from 1969 to 1973.

Immediately after leaving Stanford, having developed an interest in health research, Pauling founded the Institute of Orthomolecular Medicine (renamed afterwards as The Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine) to research nontoxic alternatives to medications. He was already 72 by then.

An interesting fact about Pauling’s life story is that despite being an outstanding student, he had been denied a high school diploma. And technically, he continued to be a failed high school student till, having realised how foolishly inflexible they had been, the school finally presented him with the diploma, 47 years late, in 1963. But it was nothing more than a superfluous gesture, for by then, he had already won two Nobel Prizes and gained recognition as one of the greatest scientists the world had ever seen.

The case for Vitamin C

At the institute he founded, the principal focus of Pauling’s research was the health benefits of large doses of vitamin C for a range of diseases from common cold and flu to cancer and heart disease. Before that, in 1970, he had published a bestselling book titled Vitamin C and the Common Cold based on his own investigations and experience.

Till then, no one had ever proposed a precise drug for curing or preventing common cold. Pauling himself had been consuming large doses of Vitamin C since 1965 and openly stated he had never suffered from the common cold since that time. People tended to believe him considering his reputation of being right about each of his many scientific breakthroughs. However, most scientists thought he was on a sticky wicket when it came to his claims about the efficacy of Vitamin C as a cure for various diseases.

Pauling nevertheless continued with his research and set up treatments that involved very large doses of vitamin C for cancer patients. But while he and his team claimed they got positive results from these tests, many other researchers said they could not replicate his results. Pauling refuted their findings saying they had not followed the same vitamin C dosing regimen that he had recommended and used.

Eclectic research interests, diverse discoveries, numerous achievements

For around a century after John Dalton put forth his atomic theory, scientists had been trying hard to find the answers to two critical questions: 1) What was the kind of bond that existed between atoms when they came together to form different substances? And 2) In what geometric pattern were atoms arranged when they formed molecules. Pauling was fascinated by these questions too. Ultimately, the extensive research he carried out in the fields of chemical bonding and chemical structure provided the answers to both.

During his scientific career spanning around seven decades, Pauling published over 1200 books and papers (authored solely or jointly) on wide-ranging scientific topics and also on humanism, war, and peace. His momentous book The Nature of the Chemical Bond is widely acknowledged as the most impactful scientific book of the twentieth century.
The list of prominent honours bestowed on Pauling would cover the length of this entire article. He received prestigious medals and awards for his scientific achievements as well as for his work as a peace activist.

Linus Pauling died at the age of 93 on 19 August, 1994, succumbing to prostate cancer. In the last years of his life, he had eased up on worldwide lecturing and foreign travel. But, a couple of years before he passed away, when he revealed he had prostate cancer, someone asked how come his daily dose of Vitamin C had not protected him from cancer. Not shying away from answering, Pauling calmly replied that had he not been taking the vitamin regularly, he would have had the cancer twenty years earlier.

Who’s to say for sure he wasn’t right?

References

1. Nobelprize.org: Linus Pauling – Biographical – Nobel Media AB 2014, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/ 1954/pauling/biographical/
2. Profiles in Science: The Linus Pauling Papers – Two Nobel Prizes – US National Library of Medicine, https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/MM/p-nid/68
3. CosmosMagazine.com: Linus Pauling: The man who won two Nobel prizes – Cosmos Magazine, Issue 80, Spring 2018, https://cosmosmagazine.com/chemistry/linus-pauling-the-man-who-won-two-nobel-prizes
4. Stanford University: Linus Carl Pauling – https://chemistry.stanford.edu/people/pauling
5. Jack D. Dunitz: Linus Carl Pauling – Biographical Memoirs, V.71 (1997), Page 221
6. Barbara Marinacci: Linus Pauling Biography – Linus Pauling Institute, https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/about/linus-pauling-biography
7. ScienceHistory.org: Linus Carl Pauling – Science History Institute, 14 December, 2017, https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/linus-carl-pauling
8. Bart Barnes: Two-time Nobel Winner Linus Pauling dies at 93 – Washington Post, 21 August 1994
9. FamousScientists.org: Linus Pauling – Famous Scientists, https://www.famousscientists.org/linus-pauling.
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