David Rittenberg

Rittenberg in 1941 when the Weizmann Institute of Science was founded

David Rittenberg (born November 11, 1906 in New York City , † January 24, 1970 there ) was an American biochemist . He was a pioneer in studying the biochemistry of metabolism using stable isotopes .

Rittenberg received his bachelor's degree from City College of New York in 1929 and received his PhD from Columbia University in 1934 with Harold Urey (Some Equilibria Involving Isotopes of Hydrogen) . In between, during the Great Depression, he got by with various, sometimes bizarre jobs, such as that of a chemical consultant for a black burner . With Rudolf Schönheimer he used the hydrogen isotope deuterium around 1935 to study metabolic processes, for example in fat metabolism. A little later, ¹⁵ N isotopes were available and Rittenberg and Schönheimer used them to study protein metabolism. In 1941 Rittenberg took over the isotope laboratory (Schönheimer committed suicide in the same year). 1956 Rittenberg was head of the department of biochemistry at Columbia University.

In 1941 David Rittenberg received the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry . He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1953) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1964).

He was invited by Chaim Weizmann to help plan the founding of the Weizmann Institute , was on its management board and became its honorary fellow in 1967. He also supported the development of science in Israel in other ways, for example in the Advisory Board of Hadassah Medical School .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter R. (PDF; 508 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved September 28, 2018 . 

literature

• David Shemin , Ronald Bentley: David Rittenberg, Biographical Memoirs. Nat. Acad., 2001, online
• Rittenberg, Schönheimer: The application of isotopes to the study of intermediary metabolism. Science, Volume 87, 1938, pp. 221-226.