Alexander Oparin
| Alexander Oparin | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
March 2, 1894 Uglich, Russian Empire |
| Died | April 21, 1980 (aged 86) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Citizenship | Soviet Union |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Fields | Biochemistry |
| Institutions |
Moscow State University USSR Academy of Sciences |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Known for | Contributions to the theory of the origin of life coacervates |
| Notable awards | Hero of Socialist Labour (1969) Lenin Prize (1974) Kalinga Prize (1976) Lomonosov Gold Medal (1979) |
Alexander Ivanovich Oparin (Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Опа́рин; in English, Aleksandr Ivanovich Oparin) (March 2 [O.S. February 18] 1894 – April 21, 1980) was a Soviet biochemist notable for his theories about the origin of life, and for his book The Origin of Life. He also studied the biochemistry of material processing by plants and enzyme reactions in plant cells. He showed that many food-production processes were based on biocatalysis and developed the foundations for industrial biochemistry in the USSR.
Born in Uglich in 1894, Oparin graduated from the Moscow State University in 1917 and became a professor of biochemistry there in 1927. Many of his early papers were about plant enzymes and their role in metabolism. In 1924 he put forward a hypothesis suggesting that life on Earth developed through a gradual chemical evolution of carbon-based molecules in the Earth's primordial soup. In 1935, along with academician Alexey Bakh, he founded the Biochemistry Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In 1939, Oparin became a Corresponding Member of the Academy, and, in 1946, a full member. In 1940s and 1950s he supported the theories of Trofim Lysenko and Olga Lepeshinskaya, who made claims about "the origin of cells from noncellular matter". "Taking the party line" helped advance his career. In 1970, he was elected President of the International Society for the Study of the Origins of Life. He died in Moscow on April 21, 1980, and was interred in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
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