On This Day in Science History - June 5

June 5^th is the birthday of John Howard Northrop. Northrop was an American biochemist who perfected a method to isolate and crystallize enzymes. This allowed him to examine the chemistry and structure of several enzymes and earned him part of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Using these methods, Northrop was first to isolate a bacteriophage or anti-bacterial virus and identify it as a nucleoprotein.

Northrop's research greatly advanced the understanding of the chemical nature of enzymes and proteins. Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.