Reichstein, Tadeus

Reichstein, Tadeus tädĕˈo͞osh rīkhˈshtīn [key], 1897–1996, Swiss organic chemist, b. Vlotslavsk, Russia (now Włocławek, Poland), educated at the technical school in Zürich, where he also taught (1922–38) chemistry. He became (1938) head of the department of pharmacy at the Univ. of Basel, retiring in 1967. For his work on the hormones of the cortex of the adrenal glands he shared with Edward C. Kendall and Philip S. Hench the 1950 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Reichstein was also the first (1933) to synthesize ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

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