In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 12 June 1899
- Died
- 24 July 1986
- Birthplace
- Koenigsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia)
- Country
- United States
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Discovering coenzyme A and investigating activated-group transfer
Why this life matters
Discovering coenzyme A and investigating activated-group transfer
Timeline
Key moments
Birth
Fritz Lipmann was born in Koenigsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia).
Cofactor composition report
Coauthored the identification of coenzyme A as a pantothenic-acid derivative.
Nobel recognition
Received Nobel recognition for the work described in the official award record.
Medicine led toward biochemical mechanisms
Fritz Lipmann was born in Königsberg in 1899. He studied medicine in several German universities, received a Berlin medical degree in 1924 and then deepened his chemical training. Work with Otto Meyerhof led to a doctorate in 1927 and research on muscle biochemistry. Other appointments brought him into tissue culture and metabolic questions. His formation combined medicine, organic chemistry and the emerging study of enzyme reactions, preparing him to ask how cells coupled energy availability with the transfer and construction of chemical groups.
Research continued across countries and institutions
Lipmann worked in Copenhagen during the 1930s after earlier visits to the Rockefeller Institute in New York. He moved to the United States in 1939 and joined Massachusetts General Hospital’s research staff in 1941. His investigations of energy-rich phosphate compounds and acetylation developed within that changing institutional setting. The work did not begin with an already purified bottle of coenzyme A. Researchers needed a dependable reaction in which a missing activity could be detected, restored and followed through successive biochemical preparations.
An assay made a cofactor visible
Lipmann’s lecture explains how an acetylation system lost a heat-stable factor during treatment and could regain activity when the factor was restored. Nathan Kaplan helped purify it, while colleagues including Constance Tuttle, David Novelli and Beverly Guirard contributed to the programme. A 1947 paper identified a connection with pantothenic acid. That was one stage in establishing composition, not an immediate complete solution of every structural and mechanistic question. The account in Kaplan’s memoir independently preserves the importance of the restoration assay and the wider team.
Coenzyme A and metabolic energy had different roles
Lipmann received half of the 1953 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for coenzyme A and its role in intermediary metabolism, sharing the award with Hans Krebs for a separate contribution. He died in 1986. His work connected activated-group transfer with the energy requirements of metabolism without making the cofactor interchangeable with ATP. The discovery illustrates a productive sequence of questions: first detect a required function, then purify the responsible material, investigate its composition and place its chemical role within a wider reaction network. Each stage added information that a positive activity test alone could not supply.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Fritz Lipmann
- Who helped identify coenzyme A?
- The programme included Nathan Kaplan, Constance Tuttle, David Novelli, Beverly Guirard and other collaborators.
- Who shared Lipmann’s 1953 Nobel Prize?
- Hans Krebs, recognised for the citric-acid cycle, received the other half.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Arthur Kornberg
Compare different biochemical programmes in which a reaction assay helped reveal required components.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Lipmann, Kaplan, Novelli, Tuttle and Guirard, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1947Coenzyme for acetylation, a pantothenic acid derivative
- 2. W. D. McElroy, National Academy of Sciences, 1994Nathan Oram Kaplan: A Biographical Memoir
- 3. Nobel Prize OutreachFritz Lipmann — Nobel lecture
The printed lecture includes later proof-stage notes. The original delivery and those additions are not treated as one unchanged 1953 record.
- 4. Nobel Prize OutreachFritz Lipmann — Facts
- 5. Nobel Prize OutreachFritz Lipmann — Biographical