Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius was born on August 10, 1902, and died on October 29, 1971. He was a Swedish scientist who studied living things and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1948. He received the prize for his work on methods to separate and study proteins, particularly for his discoveries about the different parts that make up serum proteins.
Education
Tiselius was born in Stockholm. After his father passed away, the family moved to Gothenburg, where he attended school. He graduated from the local Realgymnasium in 1921 and then studied at Uppsala University, focusing on chemistry.
Career and research
In 1925, Tiselius became a research assistant in Theodor Svedberg's laboratory. He earned his doctorate in 1930 for his work titled "The Moving Boundary Method of Studying the Electrophoresis of Proteins." From 1925 to 1935, he wrote several scientific papers about diffusion and adsorption in natural zeolites that can exchange bases. During this time, he spent a year at Hugh Stott Taylor's laboratory at Princeton University, supported by a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation. After returning to Uppsala, he focused again on proteins and used physical methods to solve biochemical problems. This work led to a significantly improved method of electrophoretic analysis, which he further developed over the following years.
After World War II, Tiselius helped reorganize scientific research in Sweden. He served as President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry from 1951 to 1955. From 1960 to 1964, he was chairman of the board for the Nobel Foundation.
Awards and honours
- 1948 Nobel Prize for Chemistry
- 1949 Elected a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences
- 1953 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1957 Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS)
- 1961 Paul Karrer Gold Medal
- 1964 Elected to the American Philosophical Society
The lunar crater Tiselius was named in his honor.