born Oct. 8, 1883, Freiburg im Breisgau, Ger.
died Aug. 1, 1970, West Berlin, W.Ger.
German biochemist.
In the 1920s, after earning doctorates in chemistry and medicine, he investigated the process by which oxygen is consumed in the cells of living organisms, introducing the technique of measuring changes in gas pressure for studying the rates at which slices of living tissue take up oxygen. His search for the cell components involved in oxygen consumption led to identification of the role of the cytochromes. He was awarded a 1931 Nobel Prize for his research. He was the first to observe that the growth of cancer cells requires much less oxygen than that of normal cells.