Karl Meyer (biochemist) explained

Karl Meyer (4 September 1899 – 18 May 1990) was a German biochemist. He worked on connective tissue and determined the properties of hyaluronan in the 1930s.^{[1] [2]}

Biography

He was born on 4 September 1899 in Kerpen, Germany. Meyer studied medicine and received his Ph.D. from the University of Cologne in 1924. He moved to Berlin and received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in 1927. In 1930 Herbert Evans invited Meyer to work as assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley.He then moved to New York and worked at the Columbia University doing research on hyaluronan.

A resident of Teaneck, New Jersey, Meyer died at the age of 90 on May 18, 1990, at a nursing home in nearby Cresskill.^[3]

Awards

• 1956 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
• 1965 Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences^[4]
• 1967 Member of the National Academy of Sciences^[5]

Legacy

The Society for Complex Carbohydrates (now Society for Glycobiology) presents the Karl Meyer Award since 1991.

Notes and References

1. 10.1084/jem.71.2.137 . . The Hydrolysis of Hyaluronic Acid by Bacterial Enzymes . J Exp Med . 71 . 2 . 137–46 . January 1940 . 19870951 . 2135078.
2. McDonald . J. . Hascall . V. C. . 2002 . J. Biol. Chem. . 277 . 4575–4579 . 10.1074/jbc.r100064200 . The Discovery of Hyaluronan by Karl Meyer. 7 . 11717319 . free.
3. Staff. "Karl Meyer, 90, Dies; A Research Biochemist", The New York Times, May 22, 1990. Accessed September 12, 2017. "Dr. Karl Meyer, a research biochemist who specialized in connective tissue diseases, died on Friday at the Dunroven Nursing Home in Cresskill, N.J. He was 90 years old and lived in Teaneck, N.J."
4. http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterM.pdf Book of Members 1780–present
5. Karl Meyer 1899-1990. Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences . Vincent C. . Hascall . Endre A.. Balazs . 2009.