John Howard Northrop

John Howard Northrop (July 5, 1891 – May 27,

1987) was an American biochemist who, with James John Howard Northrop
Batcheller Sumner and Wendell Meredith Stanley, won
the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The award was
given for these scientists' isolation, crystallization, and
study of enzymes, proteins, and viruses.[1] Northrop
was a Professor of Bacteriology and Medical Physics,
Emeritus, at University of California, Berkeley.[2]

Biography

Early years
Northrop was born in Yonkers, New York to John
Isaiah, a zoologist and instructor at Columbia
University who is a member of the Havemeyer family, Born July 5, 1891
and Alice Rich Northrop, a teacher of botany at Hunter Yonkers, New York, U.S.
College. His father died in a lab explosion two weeks Died May 27, 1987 (aged 95)
before John H. Northrop was born. The son was Wickenburg, Arizona, U.S.
educated at Yonkers High School and Columbia
Alma mater Columbia University
University, where he earned his BA in 1912 and PhD
in chemistry in 1915.[3][4] During World War I, he Known for Studies of enzymes
conducted research for the U.S. Chemical Warfare Awards Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1946)
Service on the production of acetone and ethanol Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal (1939)
through fermentation. This work led to studying Scientific career
enzymes.
Fields Biochemistry
Institutions University of California, Berkeley
Research Columbia University
In 1929, Northrop isolated and crystallized the gastric Rockefeller University
enzyme pepsin[5] and determined that it was a protein.
For this achievement, he was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1934.[6] In
1938 he isolated and crystallized the first bacteriophage (a small virus that attacks bacteria), and
determined that it was a nucleoprotein. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society that same
year.[7] Northrop also isolated and crystallized pepsinogen (the precursor to pepsin), trypsin,
chymotrypsin, and carboxypeptidase.
For his 1939 book, Crystalline Enzymes: The Chemistry of Pepsin, Trypsin, and Bacteriophage, Northrop
was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.[8] He was elected a
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1949.[9] Northrop was employed by the
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City from 1916 until his retirement in 1961. In
1949 he joined the University of California, Berkeley as Professor of Bacteriology, and later, he was
appointed Professor of Biophysics.[10]

Personal life
In 1917, Northrop married Louise Walker (1891–1975), with whom he had two children: John, an
oceanographer, and Alice, who married Nobel laureate Frederick C. Robbins. The family lived in a small
home just outside of Mt. Vernon, New York. As their children grew older and Northrop looked for a more
desirable workplace, the family bought a home in Cotuit, Massachusetts. This move shortened Northrop's
commute to the laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey, and also put him in closer contact with the
wilderness which he greatly enjoyed.[11] Northrop committed suicide in Wickenburg, Arizona in 1987.[12]

References
1. "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1946 – Preparing Pure Proteins" (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_
prizes/chemistry/laureates/1946/speedread.html). Retrieved December 14, 2008.
2. "University of California: In Memoriam, 1988" (http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb967
nb5k3&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00041&toc.depth=1&toc.id=).
3. "Alexander Hamilton Medal" (https://www.college.columbia.edu/alumni/about/honors/alexan
der-hamilton-medal). Columbia College Alumni Association. December 14, 2016. Retrieved
June 24, 2022.
4. Columbia College (Columbia University). Office of Alumni Affairs and Development;
Columbia College (Columbia University) (1960–1961). Columbia College today (http://archiv
e.org/details/ldpd_12981092_008). Columbia University Libraries. New York, N.Y. :
Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development.
5. Northrop, J. H. (1929), "Crystalline Pepsin", Science, 69 (1796): 580,
Bibcode:1929Sci....69..580N (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1929Sci....69..580N),
doi:10.1126/science.69.1796.580 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.69.1796.580),
PMID 17758437 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17758437)
6. "John H. Northrop" (http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/52078.
html). www.nasonline.org. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
7. "APS Member History" (https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=John+Northro
p&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advance
d). search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
8. "Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101229194403/http://www.naso
nline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_elliot). National Academy of Sciences.
Archived from the original (http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS
_elliot) on December 29, 2010. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
9. "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter N" (http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMe
mbers/ChapterN.pdf) (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved April 15,
2011.
10. "John H. Northrop – Biographical" (https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laure
ates/1946/northrop-bio.html). Nobel Foundation. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
11. Biographical Memoirs (http://www.nap.edu/read/4560/chapter/20#447). 1994.
doi:10.17226/4560 (https://doi.org/10.17226%2F4560). ISBN 978-0-309-04976-4.
12. See p. 440 of Herriott, R. M. (1994), "John Howard Northrop: July 5, 1891 – May 27, 1987"
(http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4560&page=423), Biographical Memoirs.
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), vol. 63, pp. 423–450, PMID 11615389 (https://pubme
d.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11615389)

Further reading
Economos, A. C.; Lints, F. A. (1985), "Growth rate and life span in Drosophila V. The effect
of prolongation of the period of growth on the total duration of life (J.H. Northrop, 1917) –
revisited", Mech. Ageing Dev., vol. 33, no. 1 (published December 1985), pp. 103–113,
doi:10.1016/0047-6374(85)90112-5 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0047-6374%2885%299011
2-5), PMID 3908838 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3908838), S2CID 23576391 (https://a
pi.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:23576391)
Herriott, R. M. (1981), "John Howard Northrop", J. Gen. Physiol., vol. 77, no. 6 (published
June 1981), pp. 597–599, doi:10.1085/jgp.77.6.597 (https://doi.org/10.1085%2Fjgp.77.6.59
7), PMC 2215443 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2215443), PMID 7021760
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7021760)
Herriott, R. M. (1994), "John Howard Northrop: July 5, 1891 – May 27, 1987" (http://www.na
p.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4560&page=423), Biographical Memoirs. National
Academy of Sciences (U.S.), vol. 63, pp. 423–450, PMID 11615389 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nl
m.nih.gov/11615389)

See also this version of Northrop's National Academy of Science biography (http://boo
ks.nap.edu/html/biomems/jnorthrop.pdf).

Northrop, J. H. (1939), Crystalline Enzymes, Columbia University Press

Shampo, M A; Kyle, R. A. (2000), "John Northrop – definitive study of enzymes", Mayo Clin.
Proc., vol. 75, no. 3 (published March 2000), p. 254, doi:10.4065/75.3.254 (https://doi.org/1
0.4065%2F75.3.254), PMID 10725951 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10725951)
van Helvoort, T. (1992), "The controversy between John H. Northrop and Max Delbrück on
the formation of bacteriophage: bacterial synthesis or autonomous multiplication?", Annals
of Science, vol. 49, no. 6 (published November 1992), pp. 545–575,
doi:10.1080/00033799200200451 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00033799200200451),
PMID 11616207 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11616207)

External links
Works by or about John Howard Northrop (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28s
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 n%20H%2E%20Northrop%22%20OR%20title%3A%22J%2E%20H%2E%20Northrop%22%
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28%221891-1987%22%20AND%20Northrop%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:softwar
e%29) at the Internet Archive
John Howard Northrop (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/205) on Nobelprize.org
including the Nobel Lecture on December 12, 1946 The Preparation of Pure Enzymes and
Virus Proteins

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