Lars Ernster

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Lars Ernster (Ernster László) (1920-1998) was a professor of biochemistry, and a member of the Board of the Nobel Foundation

Contents

[edit] Biography

Lars Ernster was born in Hungary and came to Sweden 1946. He played a prominent role in the scientific community. He took his Ph.D. degree at the Stockholm University in 1956. Until 1967 he was the head of the division for Physiological Chemistry at the Wenner-Gren Institute (Axel Wenner-Gren). From 1967 to 1986 he was a professor of biochemistry.

"The burning interest in science, the desire to get to the truth of the matter, the intense but courteous questioning and, above all, his charming and warm smile" as seen by a friend, colleague, fellow-European and competitor E.C. Slater. In Mitochondria and Microsomes (C.P. Lee, G. Schatz and G. Dallner, eds.) Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, MA 1981

[edit] Books

  • Chemistry and physiology of mitochondria and microsomes, Olov Lindberg, Lars Ernster - Springer (1954) OCLC 1079425
  • Protoplasmatologia. Bd. 3. Cytoplasma - Organellen A. Chondriosomen, Mikrosomen, Sphaerosomen.?4. Lindburg, Olov, and Lars Ernster: Chemistry and physiology of mitochondria and microsomes - Springer (1953) OCLC 73859281

[edit] Nobel Foundation

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The discoveries for which Peter Mitchell has been awarded this year's Nobel Prize for Chemistry relate to a field of biochemistry often referred to in recent years as bioenergetics, which is the study of those chemical processes responsible for supplying energy to living cells.

All living organisms need energy to survive. Muscular work, thought processes, growth, and reproduction are all examples of biological activities that require energy. We know today that every living cell is capable, by means of suitable catalysts, of deriving energy from its environment, converting this energy into a biologically useful chemical form, and utilizing it for various energy-requiring processes. [[3]]

[edit] Lars Ernster rescued January 8, 1945

Lars Ernster, Edith Ernster and Jacob Steiner lived during the World War II. in the office of the Swedish Embassy in Budapest Üllöi ut 2-4. In the night of January 8, 1945 all inhabitants were dragged away by a Arrow Cross Party executing brigade of the city commander near to the Danube banks. At midnight, 20 policemen with drawn bayonets broke into the Arrow Cross house and rescued everyone. [4]

Historic frontpage 1947, Wallenberg in Budapest: [1]
Historic frontpage 1947, Wallenberg in Budapest: [1]

[edit] Edith Ernster remembers

Edith Ernster, who lived through that time, recalls: "It seemed so strange - this country of super-aryans, the Swedes, taking us under their wings. Often, when an Orthodox Jew went by, in his hat, beard and sidelocks, we'd say, 'Look, there goes another Swede.'

A special department was created in the Swedish embassy in Budapest with Wallenberg as its head. It was staffed primarily with Jewish volunteers. Initially, there were 250 workers; later, he had about 400 people working around the clock. Wallenberg seemed to sleep no more than an hour or two a night, and then it was wherever he happened to be working. He was everywhere.

[edit] See also

[edit] Literature

  • József Szekeres: Saving the Ghettos of Budapest in January 1945, ISBN 9637323147X, Budapest 1997, Publisher: Budapest Archives
  • Forgács Gábor: Recollections and Facts; My Days with Raoul Wallenberg (Emlék és Valóság), ISBN 96306003X, Budapest 2006 , in the list of saved persons January 8. 1945. Lars Ernster rescued to Sweden, around 1970 member of the Board of Nobel Foundation
  • The Road to Stockholm. Nobel Prizes, Science and Scientists (Oxford Paperbacks) Istvan Hargittai, Oxford University Press (12. Juli 2005) ISBN-10: ISBN-13:
  • Our Lives: Encounters Of A Scientist, Istvan Hargittai, Akademiai Kiado, 30 Januar 2005, ISBN-10: ISBN-13:

[edit] Internet References

  • The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1978, Presentation Speech, Lars Ernster [[5]]
  • The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences [[6]]
  • Edith Ernster remembers [[7]]
  • Document about January 8. 1945. in Budapest Archives (hungarian) [[8]]
  • The history of Wallenberg office / Swedish Embassy [[9]]
  • Lars Ernster, Istvan Hargittai [[10]]
  • Google search "Ernster László" [[11]]