ADOLF BUTENANDT, 91
GERMAN CHEMIST WHO WON NOBEL

Author: Associated Press

Date: Thursday, January 19, 1995
Page: 29
Section: OBITUARY

In 1929, Mr. Butenandt isolated the female hormone estrone, and two years later the male hormone androsterone. He isolated the pregnancy hormone progesterone in 1935, when he also synthesized the male hormone testosterone.

His research helped lead to the invention of the birth control pill.

He also worked to explain the importance of genes and was the first to isolate hormones in insects.

Mr. Butenandt, who shared the 1939 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Leopold Ruzicka, a Czech, declined an invitation to teach at Harvard in 1935. Because of the Nazi dictatorship, he was unable to receive his Nobel until after World War II.

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