born Nov. 10, 1874, Hamburg, Ger.
died July 25, 1933, Nassau
German physiological chemist.
He taught at the University of Frankfurt am Main from its founding in 1914. He conducted studies on the chemistry of carbohydrate metabolism and muscle contraction and was the first to discover and link all the steps in the conversion of glycogen to lactic acid. His studies focused mainly on chemical processes in living organisms, especially intermediate metabolic processes in liver tissue. By developing a technique to prevent tissue damage, Embden discovered the liver's important role in metabolism and did preliminary studies that led to the investigation of normal sugar metabolism and of diabetes.