Heroes and Cultural Identity Project

SCE Heroes - Sir Hans Adolf Krebs

MAPPING LIFE'S ENERGY CYCLE

Sir HANS ADOLF KREBS

by Clare Mckenna

The citric acid cycle was one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century. It finally gave focus to the study of cell respiration and provided further understanding in to the mechanics of cellular processes.

Its discoverer was Sir Hans Krebs. Born in Germany in 1900, Krebs studied medicine and chemistry at various different universities between world war one and world war two. He had actually enlisted to fight in the First World War but had his first stroke of luck when it ended before he was shipped out.

Difficult times in between the wars in Germany meant that medical students often had to complete their training working in hospitals for free. Even still his employment was terminated in 1933 when the national socialist party gained power because he was Jewish.

Fortunately for biochemistry Krebs then scored a second stroke of luck when he was invited to join Cambridge University in England as a demonstrator of biochemistry and escaped Germany before the start of the Second World War. Maybe if he hadn't been forced out of his medical training position, science might still be waiting for the discovery of the citric acid cycle.

Cell biology at that time must have been an incredibly complicated field to study, magnification equipment had just been invented and the vast majority of the theories they tested were intuitive. A great determination to prove his ideas right must have kept him going and for this I admire and respect Hans Krebs. He explained one of physiologies most important metabolic pathways and since then more discoveries have been made giving us a further understanding of cell biology.

Krebs' undertook research into other metabolic pathways, used complicated experiments to prove his theories and demonstrated the citric acid cycle this and the citric acid cycle's impact on modern science and modern society make Sir Hans Adolf Krebs my hero of science and technology.

Clare Mckenna is a science student following a one year university access course in biological sciences.