Adolf Butenandt

Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt (24 March 1903 – 18 January 1995) was a German biochemist renowned for his isolation and structural elucidation of key sex hormones, earning him a share of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Born in Bremerhaven-Lehe to a Hamburg businessman, Butenandt studied chemistry at the universities of Marburg and Göttingen, earning his PhD in 1927 under Nobel laureate Adolf Windaus. His early research focused on the chemistry of natural substances, leading to the isolation of estrone in 1929 and androsterone in 1931, foundational advances in understanding hormonal functions that later contributed to developments like cortisone production and the birth control pill. In 1936, he became director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biochemistry in Berlin, a position he held through World War II, during which he joined the Nazi Party though without active political engagement.