Christian de Duve

Christian de Duve ( Thames-Ditton , 2 of October of 1917 - 4 of maypole of 2013 ) was a cytologist and biochemist English .

Biography

Son of Belgian parents, he studied medicine at the University of Leuven , Belgium . He graduated in 1941 . He was Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Louvain, and at the Rockefeller Institute in New York .

He focused his works on the endocrine secretion of the pancreas , mainly on insulin . He came to discover another pancreatic hormone , glucagon . He also investigated the physical functions of lysosomes and peroxisomes , describing the process by which the action of lysosomes allows the introduction of some substances into the interior of the cell nucleus.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1974 shared with Albert Claude and George Emil Palade for describing the structure and functions of the different organelles within the cells. Since the 1980s , Christian de Duve investigates the biological origin of life . His work in this area has contributed to the growing consensus that the endosymbiotic theory is correct; The idea that mitochondria , chloroplasts and perhaps other organelles of eukaryotic cells originated as prokaryotic endosymbionts that were associated with primitive eukaryotic cells.

C. de Duve in 2010 left Catholicism publicly after many years and converted to agnosticism , was not a strict atheist . ^{1 2} but openly opposed to the notion of creationism as he explains in his book, Genetics of Original Sin: The Impact of Natural Selection in the Future of Humanity .

He died on 4 as maypole as 2013 . He chose euthanasia ( assisted suicide ) after seeing how his health had deteriorated significantly in recent months. ³

Work

• A Guided Tour of the Living Cell . 1984 . ISBN 0-7167-5002-3
• Blueprint For a Cell: The Nature and Origin of Life . 1991 . ISBN 0-89278-410-5
• Vital Dust: Life As a Cosmic Imperative . 1996 . ISBN 0-465-09045-1
• IEEPALEE: Hello artemaníacos . 2002 . ISBN 0-19-515605-6
• Life Evolving: Molecules, Mind, and Meaning . 2002 . ISBN 0-19-515605-6
• Singularities: Landmarks on the Pathways of Life . 2005 . ISBN 978-0-521-84195-5
• Genetics of Original Sin: The Impact of Natural Selection on the Future of Humanity . Yale University Press. 2010. ISBN 9780300165074 .

Editions in Spanish

• The living cell . Scientific Press. 1988. ISBN 978-84-7593-025-1 .

• Lifeblood. The origin and evolution of life on earth . Editorial Norma. 1999. ISBN 958-04-3324-0 .

• Life in evolution: molecules, mind and meaning . Editorial Critic. 2004. ISBN 978-84-8432-540-6 .

References