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Jens C. Skou
1918–2018 · Denmark · 20th century
Nobel Chemistry 1997
Danish physician-biochemist who discovered the Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase ion pump in 1957; for this first ion-transporting enzyme he received the 1997 Nobel Prize.
Nobel Prize work
For the first discovery of an ion-transporting enzyme: in 1957 Skou identified Na⁺,K⁺-ATPase in crab nerve membranes, showing that it couples ATP hydrolysis to pumping sodium out of and potassium into cells — the sodium-potassium pump that maintains cellular ion gradients and opened the field of ion pumps.
Fields
Related topics
Electrolytes, pH, buffer solutions
How dissolved ions conduct electricity, how acid–base equilibria set pH, and how conjugate pairs resist pH change in a buffer.
Enzymes and enzyme kinetics
Enzymes accelerate reactions by lowering the activation free-energy barrier; they do not change the equilibrium constant.