Alberto Sols García (1917–1989) was a Spanish researcher specializing in biochemistry, working especially on

hexokinase A hexokinase is an enzyme that irreversibly phosphorylates hexoses (six-carbon sugars), forming hexose phosphate. In most organisms, glucose is the most important substrate for hexokinases, and glucose-6-phosphate is the most important p ...

s. He effectively created biochemistry as a major discipline in Spain.

Life

Alberto Sols was born in Sax,

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

, on 2 February 1917, the son of Pedro Sols Lluch. He died in Denia, Alicante, on 10 August 1989. The house of his birth is now the Centro de Estudios y Archivo Histórico Municipal Alberto Sols.

Career

Sols studied medicine at the

University of Valencia The University of Valencia ( ), shortened to UV, is a public research university in Valencia, Spain. It is one of the oldest universities in Spain, and the oldest in the Valencian Community. It is regarded as one of Spain's leading academic i ...

. After working for three years, principally with Robert Crane at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

, in the group of Nobel prizewinners

Carl Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

and

Gerty Cori Gerty Theresa Cori (; August 15, 1896 – October 26, 1957) was a Bohemian-Austrian and American biochemist who in 1947 was the third woman to win a Nobel Prize in science, and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Me ...

he returned to Spain in 1954, and created a research group at the

Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council (, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and techn ...

(CSIC). His work concerned hexokinases and sugar

phosphorylation In biochemistry, phosphorylation is described as the "transfer of a phosphate group" from a donor to an acceptor. A common phosphorylating agent (phosphate donor) is ATP and a common family of acceptor are alcohols: : This equation can be writ ...

in general. In 1963 he was Founding President of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry (now Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology—Sociedad Española de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular: SEBBM). He was also a member of scientific societies in the UK, USA, Argentina and Chile.

Distinctions

Sols received numerous prizes, and was the first holder of the

Prince of Asturias Award The Princess of Asturias Awards (, ), formerly the Prince of Asturias Awards from 1981 to 2014 (), are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Princess of Asturias Foundation (previously the Prince of Asturias Foundation) to individuals ...

for Technical and Scientific Research in 1981. In 1987 he received the National Research Prize "Santiago Ramón y Cajal" of the Ministry of Education. In 1989 he was elected to the .

References

Spanish biochemists 1989 deaths Complutense University of Madrid alumni Academic staff of the Autonomous University of Madrid People from Alicante Washington University in St. Louis alumni 1917 births