Sir Hans KREBS (1900–1981)
Biochemist and Nobel Laureate
27 Abberbury Road, Oxford
Hans Krebs was born at Hildesheim in Germany in 1900. After graduating in medicine from the University of Munich in 1923, he spent five years as research assistant to Professor Otto Warburg the leading biochemist of the time. In 1931 he secured an academic post at Freiburg University where he began his research into the urea cycle, later known as ‘Krebs Cycle,’ work immediately recognised as a milestone in biochemistry.
When Hitler came to power in 1933 and Krebs, as a Jew, was dismissed from his university post, he was invited to work in Cambridge. He later moved to Sheffield University and pursued further groundbreaking research into the oxidation of sugars. In 1947 he became FRS, was awarded the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 1953 and in 1954 came to Oxford as Whitley Professor of Biochemistry and a fellow of Trinity College.
27 Abberbury Road, Iffley, where Krebs lived from 1954 until his death
He was knighted in 1958 and received countless other distinctions including the German order of merit.
On retirement in 1967 he continued his work at the Radcliffe Infirmary research laboratory and published a further 100 papers right up to the time of his death in 1981.
Source: Article by Hans Kornberg in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The plaque was installed at 27 Abberbury Road, Iffley, the home of Sir Hans Krebs from 1954–1981, on Saturday 7 June 2008. The speakers at the ceremony were his son, Lord Krebs, Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, and the President of Trinity College, Sir Ivor Roberts. Other members of the Krebs family were present.
Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board
Professor
SIR HANS KREBS
FRS
1900–1981
Biochemist
Nobel Laureate
lived here
1954–1981
Trinity College Oxford
