Google Doodle celebrates the 100th birthday of Sir John Cornforth

Nobel Prize-winning chemist’s 100th birthday celebrated by Google Doodle.

THURSDAY's Google Doodle celebrates the 100th birthday of Sir John Cornforth.



Here's all you need to know about the Nobel Prize winning scientist and his research that has helped millions of patients.

John Cornforth was born in Sydney on September 7, 1917.

They both won scholarships to study for postgraduate degrees at the University of Oxford and married in 1941. Together they wrote more than 40 scientific papers on subjects such as the 3D structure of hormones.



They had a son and two daughters and four grandchildren, retiring in Sussex.



John, knighted in 1977, died aged 96 in 2013, a year after his wife died aged 97.

At Oxford, Conforth joined the team that developed the antibiotic penicillin and helped the work of purifying and concentrating it.



Later he and his wife went to work at the Medical Research Council where they returned to earlier work on synthesising cholesterol, steroids and other organic compounds.



The research also involved examining the structure of complex chemicals such as enzymes, which are vital in many chemical processes in the body.



His work opened the door to other discoveries, including the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs which have since benefited millions of patients.



In 1968 Cornforth was awarded the prestigious Davy Medal along with his collaborator George Popják.



And in 1975 he shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Croatian scientist Vladimir Prelog, who also studied the stereochemistry (3D structure) of organic molecules and reactions.

The award said the area of research was "difficult to explain to the layman" - but its importance was wide-ranging and influential.



John, whose wide never received the same recognition, paid tribute to her when he won the Nobel Prize.



He said: "Throughout my scientific career my wife has been my most constant collaborator.



"Her experimental skill made major contributions to the work; she has eased for me beyond measure the difficulties of communication that accompany deafness; her encouragement and fortitude have been my strongest support."



He was a professor at Warwick and Sussex universities during his distinguished career.