Sven Gustaf Hedin (6 October 1859 – 11 July 1933) was a Swedish chemist and physiologist credited with the discovery of

histidine Histidine (symbol His or H) is an essential amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains an Amine, α-amino group (which is in the protonated –NH3+ form under Physiological condition, biological conditions), a carboxylic ...

. He was born in Alseda parish,

Jönköping County Jönköping County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in September 2017. The capita ...

. He began his studies in 1878 and received his bachelor's degree in 1881 at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

. In 1886 he received his doctorate in philosophy and doctorate of medicine in 1893 in

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

and

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

in chemistry in 1886 and became a researcher () there in 1895. From 1900 to 1907 he was made head of the pathological chemistry division at the

Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, informally known as the Lister Institute, was established as a research institute (the British Institute of Preventive Medicine) in 1891, with bacteriologist Marc Armand Ruffer as its first director, ...

in London, and professor of medicinal and physiological chemistry at Uppsala University in 1908. Hedin was a member of the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund (1896) and the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

(1902). Among Hedin's many scientific theses are (1886) and (1893, both in Lund University's journal), (in ''Zeitschrift für physiologische Chemie'', 1895) and other reports on the decomposition of protein in the same journal, (1897, in ''Archiv für die gesammte Physiologie''), awarded the Alvarenga Prize, ''An explanation of the influence of acid and alkali on the autolysis of organs'' (in the

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

dedicated to , 1906) along with contributions to ''

The Journal of Physiology ''The Journal of Physiology'' is a semi-monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1878 and is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of The Physiological Society. It covers research on all aspects of physiology, with an emp ...

'' and ''

Biochemical Journal The ''Biochemical Journal'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal which covers all aspects of biochemistry, as well as cell and molecular biology. It is published by Portland Press and was established in 1906. History The journal was established ...

'' regarding

trypsin Trypsin is an enzyme in the first section of the small intestine that starts the digestion of protein molecules by cutting long chains of amino acids into smaller pieces. It is a serine protease from the PA clan superfamily, found in the dig ...

. Hedin was awarded the Björkénska priset in 1912. He was the father-in-law of professor Harald Riesenfeld and uncle of literary historian . Hedin died in UppsalaSveriges Dödbok SDB 1860–2016, USB, Version 7.10, Sveriges Släktforskarförbund (2016). and is buried in Uppsala Old Cemetery.

References

{{authority control 1859 births 1933 deaths Swedish chemists Burials at Uppsala old cemetery