Marcel Florkin Explained
Marcel Florkin (Liège, 15 August 1900 – 3 May 1979) was a Belgian biochemist. Florkin was graduated in 1928 as a Doctor in Medicine and became in 1934 a professor of biochemistry at the University of Liège. He retired as professor emeritus in 1970.[1]
In 1951, he was the initiator of the Belgian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Together with Christian de Duve, and others, he wrote a proposal for the statutes which was adopted in 1952, on the first general meeting. In 1944, he published a book (translated to English in 1949) concerning biochemical evolution, in which he explained the relevance of evolution for understanding differences in metabolism and chemical makeup between different types of organisms.[2] In later years he applied the principles of biosemiotics (indicator biology) on biochemistry. In 1946, Marcel Florkin was awarded the Francqui Prize on Biological and Medical Sciences. He was a member of the Association for the intellectual and artistic progress of Wallonia.
Bibliography
- Florkin, M, Concepts of molecular biosemiotics and of molecular evolution, In: Comprehensive Biochemistry, 29A: 1–124, 1974.
- Florkin, M, A History of Biochemistry, American Elsevier Publishing Co., 1972, xviii + 343 pp.[3]
References
- Book: Gilles, R.. Schoffeniels, Ernest. 2013. Marcel Florkin and the system of biochemistry. xiii–xviii. Animals and Environmental Fitness: Physiological and Biochemical Aspects of Adaptation and Ecology: Invited Lectures. https://books.google.com/books?id=VO8gBQAAQBAJ&pg=PR13. Proceedings of the First Conference of the European Society for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, held 27 to 31 August 1979 in Liège, Belgium.
- Marcel Florkin, Biochemical Evolution, NY: Academic Press, 1949
- 10.1001/jama.1973.03220330053033 . review of A History of Biochemistry by Marcel Florkin . 1973 . King . Lester S. . Lester S. King. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association . 225 . 6 . 641 .
Sources
- Fruton, JS, Marcel Florkin, 1900–1979, historian of biochemistry, Hist Philos Life Sci. 1980;2(1):167-71
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