Albert Szent-Györgyi

Albert Szent-Györgyi (16 September 1893 – 22 October 1986) was a Hungarian biochemist who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937 for his discoveries concerning biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid. He was the first to isolate vitamin C and played a key role in elucidating the citric acid cycle. Later in life he became known for his research on muscle physiology and his outspoken views on science and peace.

Albert Szent-Györgyi
Born	September 16, 1893, Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary
Died	October 22, 1986, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, US
Nationality	Hungarian, American
Education	M.D. in Medicine (1917) Ph.D. in Chemistry (1927)
Occupation	Biochemist, physician, professor
Known for	The discovery of vitamin C, pioneering the citric acid cycle, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine
Notable works	“On Oxidation, Fermentation, Vitamins, and the Chemistry of Cell Respiration” (1928–1937) "Oxidation, Fermentation, Vitamins, Health and Disease" (1939) "Bioenergetics" (1957) "The Crazy Ape" (1970)
Website

Early life

Albert Szent-Györgyi was born on 16 September 1893 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary), into an educated family. His father was a landowner and his mother came from a family of prominent physicians and scientists. He began medical studies at the University of Budapest in 1911 but interrupted them during World War I to serve as an army medic on the Italian front. After being wounded and awarded the Silver Medal for Valor, he returned to complete his MD in 1917. Szent-Györgyi then pursued scientific research, working in several European laboratories before earning his PhD in chemistry from Cambridge in 1927. His early research focused on the adrenal glands and biological oxidation processes.

Education and career

Szent-Györgyi earned his MD from the University of Budapest in 1917. After World War I military service, he conducted research in physiology and biochemistry across Europe (Poszony, Prague, Berlin, Leiden, and Groningen). In 1927 he obtained a PhD in chemistry from the University of Cambridge, followed by a Rockefeller Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic (1930–1931).He returned to Hungary as professor of medical chemistry at the University of Szeged (1931–1944, where he isolated vitamin C and performed his Nobel-winning work. In 1944–1945 he was active in the Hungarian anti-Nazi resistance. After the war he briefly served as professor at the University of Budapest (1945–1947), but emigrated to the United States in 1947 to escape the communist takeover. From 1947 until his death he worked at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, founding and directing the Institute for Muscle Research (later the National Foundation for Cancer Research). He remained scientifically active into his nineties.

Notable/unique

Szent-Györgyi was the first person to isolate vitamin C from an everyday food (Hungarian paprika) in large quantities. During World War I he shot himself in the arm to escape the front yet still received the Silver Medal for Valor. In World War II he worked for the Hungarian resistance and was arrested by the Gestapo, narrowly avoiding execution. He fled communist Hungary in 1947 with just two suitcases—one containing his remaining vitamin C crystals, the other his notebooks. In the US he co-discovered the muscle protein actin and later proposed unconventional quantum-based theories of life and cancer (“submolecular biology”). A fierce opponent of war and nuclear weapons, he wrote the widely read anti-war book The Crazy Ape (1970). He published original scientific papers until age 93, the last appearing in the year he died (1986).

Death

Albert Szent-Györgyi died of kidney failure on October 22nd, 1986 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, at the age of 93. He continued working and publishing until shortly before his death and was buried in Woods Hole, where he had spent the last four decades of his life.

Connection to Ray Peat's Work

Ray Peat, an American biologist and physiologist known for his theories on metabolism, hormones, and nutrition, drew significant inspiration from Szent-Györgyi's later bioenergetics work. Ray frequently referenced Szent-Györgyi's Bioenergetics (1957) and Bioelectronics (1968), which explored electron transfer, cellular regulation, and energy efficiency in tissues—concepts central to Peat's emphasis on oxidative metabolism, thyroid function, and avoiding stress-induced energy inefficiency. For instance, Peat cited Szent-Györgyi's ideas on high-efficiency energy production for cellular differentiation and repair, applying them to his "pro-metabolic" dietary principles (e.g., favoring saturated fats and sugars for mitochondrial health). Followers like Danny Roddy have highlighted this lineage, noting Szent-Györgyi's view that "a cell needs energy for all of its daily activities" as echoing Peat's bioenergetic framework. This connection positions Szent-Györgyi as a key intellectual precursor in the informal "school of bioenergetics" influenced by Peat.

Published works

• "On the Mechanism of Biological Oxidation." (1924)
• "Studies on the Chemistry of Muscular Contraction." (PhD thesis, 1927)
• "On Oxidation, Fermentation, Vitamins, Health and Disease." (1939)
• "Chemistry of Muscular Contraction." (1941)
• "Nature of Life." (1947)
• "Bioenergetics." (1957)
• "Introduction to a Sub Molecular Biology." (1960)
• "The Crazy Ape." (1970)
• "Electronic Biology and Cancer." (1976)
• "The Living State." (1972)
• "Lost in the Twentieth Century." (1963)

Patents

• “Process for the production of ascorbic acid”. Large-scale extraction and crystallization of pure ascorbic acid (vitamin C) from paprika and other plant sources using methanol and acidification. (1939)