Richard Synge

Richard Synge, born in 1914, British biochemist, physical chemist, and Nobel Prize winner. Richard Laurence Millington Synge was born in Liverpool, and studied the separation of acetyl amino acids at Cambridge, where he received his Ph.D. degree in 1941. He later worked with fellow British chemist Archer J. P. Martin at the Wool Industries Research Association in Leeds. It was there that Synge and Martin used some of Synge's previous findings to develop the method of partition chromatography, a technique for separating mixtures that revolutionized analytical chemistry. In 1952 Synge and Martin shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Synge's research had enabled him to separate and analyze protein's 20 amino acids, and to further study the activities of enzymes. It also provided for the analysis of carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids, thus becoming a very useful tool for the food, drug, and chemical industries. The process was also used to identify proteins by use of radioactive markers. This development eventually led to the ability to produce a photograph of the biochemical separation, greatly aiding biochemists working with photosynthesis, and researchers working with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequencing.

Synge traveled extensively and taught internationally. At the University of Uppsala in Sweden, he studied other separation methods with Swedish biochemist Arne Tiselius. Synge brought that knowledge back home to England and applied it toward the isolation of amino acids in ryegrass, part of his study of the molecular makeup of plant juices and their role in stimulating bacteria growth. His work and findings benefited medicine, agriculture, and industry in the areas of human health.

Synge became director of the Department of Protein Chemistry at Rowett Research Institute in Scotland in 1948, and was a biochemist with the Food Research Institute in Norwich, England, from 1967 until his retirement in 1976.