James B. Sumner
Encyclopedia
James Batcheller Sumner (November 19, 1887 – August 12, 1955) was an American chemist
. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
in 1946 with John Howard Northrop
and Wendell Meredith Stanley
.
with a bachelor's degree
in 1910 where he was acquainted with prominent chemists Roger Adams
, Farrington Daniels
, Frank C. Whitmore
, James Bryant Conant
and Charles Loring Jackson
. In 1912, he went to study biochemistry
in Harvard Medical School
and obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1914 with Otto Folin
. He then worked as Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Cornell University
in Ithaca,NY.
Sumner married Cid Ricketts (born Bertha Louise Ricketts in Brookhaven, Mississippi) when she attended medical school at Cornell. They married on July 10, 1915 and had four children (although the Nobel website for Sumner indicated that they had six children, one of whom died young). They were divorced in 1930. Cid Ricketts Sumner went on to become an author, writing books that included "Tammy Tell Me True," a book which was made into the movie "Tammy and the Bachelor" with Debbie Reynolds and Leslie Nielsen. Mrs. Sumner was murdered by their grandson, John R. Cutler, in 1970.
s in pure form; a feat which had never been achieved before. The enzyme he worked with was urease
. Sumner's work was unsuccessful for many years and many of his colleagues were doubtful, believing that what he was trying to achieve was impossible, but in 1926 he demonstrated that urease could be isolated and crystal
lized. He was also able to show by chemical tests that his pure urease was a protein
. This was the first experimental proof that an enzyme is a protein, a controversial question at the time.
His successful research brought him to full professorship at Cornell in 1929. From 1924 on his laboratory was located on the second floor of the new dairy science building, Stocking Hall (today home to Food Science), at Cornell where he did his Nobel prize winning research. In 1937 he succeeded in isolating and crystallizing a second enzyme, catalase
. By this time, John Howard Northrop
of the Rockefeller Institute had obtained other crystalline enzymes by similar methods, starting with pepsin
in 1929. It had become clear that Sumner had devised a general crystallization method for enzymes, and also that all enzymes are proteins.
and he spent five months in Sweden
working with Professor Theodor Svedberg
. Also that year, he was awarded the Scheele Medal in Stockholm
.
Both Sumner and Northrop shared the Nobel Prize
in 1946 for crystallization of enzymes. Sumner was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1948. In 1949, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
. Sumner died aged 67 of cancer on August 12, 1955.
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
in 1946 with John Howard Northrop
John Howard Northrop
John Howard Northrop was an American biochemist who won, with James Batcheller Sumner and Wendell Meredith Stanley, the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The award was given for these scientists' isolation, crystallization, and study of enzymes, proteins, and viruses...
and Wendell Meredith Stanley
Wendell Meredith Stanley
Wendell Meredith Stanley was an American biochemist, virologist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Stanley was born in Ridgeville, Indiana, and earned a BS in Chemistry at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. He then studied at the University of Illinois, gaining an MS in science in 1927 followed by...
.
Biography
Sumner graduated from Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
with a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in 1910 where he was acquainted with prominent chemists Roger Adams
Roger Adams
Roger Adams was an American organic chemist. He is best-known for the eponymous Adams' catalyst, and his work did much to determine the composition of naturally occurring substances such as complex vegetable oils and plant alkaloids...
, Farrington Daniels
Farrington Daniels
Farrington Daniels , was an American physical chemist, is considered one of the pioneers of the modern direct use of solar energy.- Biography :Daniels was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on March 8, 1889...
, Frank C. Whitmore
Frank C. Whitmore
Frank Clifford Whitmore , nicknamed "Rocky", was a prominent chemist who submitted significant evidence for the existence of carbocation mechanisms in organic chemistry.He was born in 1887 in the town of North Attleborough, Massachusetts....
, James Bryant Conant
James Bryant Conant
James Bryant Conant was a chemist, educational administrator, and government official. As thePresident of Harvard University he reformed it as a research institution.-Biography :...
and Charles Loring Jackson
Charles Loring Jackson
Charles Loring Jackson was the first significant organic chemist in the United States. He brought organic chemistry to the United States from Germany and educated a generation of American organic chemists.-Personal life:...
. In 1912, he went to study biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
in Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
and obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1914 with Otto Folin
Otto Folin
Otto Knut Olof Folin was a Swedish-born American chemist who is best known for his groundbreaking work at Harvard University on practical micromethods for the determination of the constituents of protein-free blood filtrates and the discovery of creatine phosphate in muscles.-Background:Folin was...
. He then worked as Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in Ithaca,NY.
Sumner married Cid Ricketts (born Bertha Louise Ricketts in Brookhaven, Mississippi) when she attended medical school at Cornell. They married on July 10, 1915 and had four children (although the Nobel website for Sumner indicated that they had six children, one of whom died young). They were divorced in 1930. Cid Ricketts Sumner went on to become an author, writing books that included "Tammy Tell Me True," a book which was made into the movie "Tammy and the Bachelor" with Debbie Reynolds and Leslie Nielsen. Mrs. Sumner was murdered by their grandson, John R. Cutler, in 1970.
Research
It was at Cornell where Sumner began his research into isolating enzymeEnzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
s in pure form; a feat which had never been achieved before. The enzyme he worked with was urease
Urease
Urease is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea into carbon dioxide and ammonia. The reaction occurs as follows:In 1926, James Sumner showed that urease is a protein. Urease is found in bacteria, yeast, and several higher plants. The structure of urease was first solved by P.A...
. Sumner's work was unsuccessful for many years and many of his colleagues were doubtful, believing that what he was trying to achieve was impossible, but in 1926 he demonstrated that urease could be isolated and crystal
Crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
lized. He was also able to show by chemical tests that his pure urease was a protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
. This was the first experimental proof that an enzyme is a protein, a controversial question at the time.
His successful research brought him to full professorship at Cornell in 1929. From 1924 on his laboratory was located on the second floor of the new dairy science building, Stocking Hall (today home to Food Science), at Cornell where he did his Nobel prize winning research. In 1937 he succeeded in isolating and crystallizing a second enzyme, catalase
Catalase
Catalase is a common enzyme found in nearly all living organisms that are exposed to oxygen, where it catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen...
. By this time, John Howard Northrop
John Howard Northrop
John Howard Northrop was an American biochemist who won, with James Batcheller Sumner and Wendell Meredith Stanley, the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The award was given for these scientists' isolation, crystallization, and study of enzymes, proteins, and viruses...
of the Rockefeller Institute had obtained other crystalline enzymes by similar methods, starting with pepsin
Pepsin
Pepsin is an enzyme whose precursor form is released by the chief cells in the stomach and that degrades food proteins into peptides. It was discovered in 1836 by Theodor Schwann who also coined its name from the Greek word pepsis, meaning digestion...
in 1929. It had become clear that Sumner had devised a general crystallization method for enzymes, and also that all enzymes are proteins.
Honors and awards
In 1937, he was given a Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
and he spent five months in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
working with Professor Theodor Svedberg
Theodor Svedberg
Theodor H. E. Svedberg was a Swedish chemist and Nobel laureate, active at Uppsala University. His work with colloids supported the theories of Brownian motion put forward by Einstein and the Polish geophysicist Marian Smoluchowski...
. Also that year, he was awarded the Scheele Medal in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
Both Sumner and Northrop shared the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in 1946 for crystallization of enzymes. Sumner was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1948. In 1949, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
. Sumner died aged 67 of cancer on August 12, 1955.
External links
- Sumner's Nobel Lecture The Chemical Nature of Enzymes
- Sumner's Speech at the Nobel banquet