Presentation Speech by Professor Bertil Andersson of the , December 10, 1997. Translation of the Swedish text. Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, Life requires energy. Our muscles require energy when we move. We need energy to think. Energy input is required for the production of new biological molecules. This year’s three Nobel…

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Heinrich Otto Wieland was born as the son of Württemberger parents, Dr. Theodor Wieland and Elise Blum, on June 4, 1877, in Pforzheim where his father was a pharmaceutical chemist. He studied at the Universities of Munich, Berlin and Stuttgart, and then returned to the Baeyer Laboratory in Munich where, in 1901, he received his…

Leopold Stephen Ruzicka was born on September 13, 1887, in Vukovar, a small Croatian town on the Danube, somewhat east of its confluence with the Drava. His father, Stjepan Ruzicka, was a cooper; his mother’s maiden name was Ljubica Sever. His great-grandparents included a Czech, from whom the name Ruzicka stems, an Upper Austrian and…

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  In photosynthesis plants use light to form energy-rich compounds from water and carbon dioxide from the air. The decisive reactions occur in a reaction centre in the cell. The incoming light is caught in an antenna system and finds its way to a pair of chlorophyll molecules (see picture). Within these molecules an electron…

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        Editors: Solgerd Björn-Rasmussen and Margareta Wiberg Roland, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Authors: Prof. Anders Liljas, Lund University, Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry and Dr. Lars Hederstedt and Dr. Salam Al-Karadaghi, Lund University. Layout and illustrations: Kjell Lundin, Explicare AB. Printed by: Tryckindustri 1997. Photos: Jilly Wendell and…