Frederick Hopkins - Definition and Overview

Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (1861 - 1947) was an English biochemist.

Hopkins was born in Eastbourne in Sussex, and studied at the University of London and the medical school at Guy's Hospital. He became biochemistry professor at Cambridge University in 1914.

He was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (together with Christiaan Eijkman) for his discovery that certain trace substances--now known as vitamins--are essential for the maintenance of good health. He also discovered that muscle contraction can lead to the accumulation of lactic acid.

Hopkins was knighted in 1925.