| Tadeusz Reichstein | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 20, 1897 Włocławek, Congress Poland |
| Died | August 1, 1996 (aged 99) Basel, Switzerland |
| Citizenship | Switzerland |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Known for | cortisone |
| Notable awards | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1950 |
Tadeusz Reichstein (July 20, 1897 – August 1, 1996) was a Polish-born Swiss chemist and Nobel laureate.[1][2][3]
Reichstein was born into a Jewish family at Włocławek, Congress Poland, and spent his early childhood at Kiev, where his father was an engineer. He began his education at boarding-school in Jena, Germany.
In 1933, working in Zürich, Switzerland, Reichstein succeeded, independently of Sir Norman Haworth and his collaborators in the United Kingdom, in synthesizing vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in what is now called the Reichstein process.
Together with E. C. Kendall and P. S. Hench, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1950 for their work on hormones of the adrenal cortex which culminated in the isolation of cortisone.
He died in Basel, Switzerland. The principal industrial process for the artificial synthesis of Vitamin C still bears his name. Reichstein was the longest-lived Nobel laureate at the time of his death, but was surpassed in 2008 by Rita Levi-Montalcini.
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