Kenneth V. Thimann
Kenneth Vivian Thimann (born August 5, 1904 in Ashford , England , † January 15, 1997 in Haverford , Pennsylvania , United States ) was a British-American plant physiologist and microbiologist. He is known for his work on plant hormones. In particular, he isolated auxin ( indole-3-acetic acid , 1935 with Koepfli) and clarified its chemical structure.
Thimann studied chemistry and biochemistry at Imperial College London , where he also received his doctorate, and at the University of Graz . He taught at the University of London and was from 1930 at Caltech as an instructor for biochemistry and bacteriology. From 1935 he was a professor at Harvard University . During World War II he worked for the US Navy's Operations Research Group in Washington, DC and Pearl Harbor . From 1946 to 1950 he was director of the biological laboratories at Harvard University and was there from 1962 Higgins Professor of Biology. In 1965 he moved to the newly founded University of California, Santa Cruz and was instrumental in its development. He was the first provost of the University's Crown College until 1972 and built an arboretum and a botanical collection. In 1989 he moved to Haverford, Pennsylvania to live closer to his three daughters.
He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , the American Philosophical Society and the Académie des sciences as well as several honorary doctorates (Harvard University, University of Basel, University of Clermont-Ferrand, Brown University). In 1960 he became a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .
In 1982 he received the Balzan Prize .
His daughter Vivianne Nachmias was a professor of cell biology at the University of Pennsylvania, his daughter Karen Romer dean at Brown University. He played the piano and founded a chamber music group.
Fonts
- with Frits Warmolt Went : Phytohormones, 1937
- The life of bacteria, 1955
- Hormone Action in the Whole Life of Plants 1977
- Botany: Plant Biology and Its Relation to Human Affairs 1982
- with JB Koepfli: Identity of the growth-promoting and root-forming substances of plants, Nature, Volume 135, 1935, pp. 101-102.
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thimann, Kenneth V. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Thimann, Kenneth Vivian (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British-American botanist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 5th August 1904 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ashford , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 15, 1997 |
| Place of death | Haverford , Pennsylvania , United States |