Edward Calvin Kendall Biography

Edward Calvin Kendall was an American chemist known for his work with hormones of the adrenal gland. He collaborated with the Mayo Clinic physician, Philip S. Hench, to research on the adrenal glands and their collective work won them the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1950. In addition to this work Kendall was also responsible for the isolation of thyroxine, a hormone of the thyroid gland. Born in Connecticut, he was educated at Columbia University where he specialized in chemistry and earned his Ph.D. in 1910. He began his career with Parke, Davis and Company where he became engaged in research on the hormones associated with the thyroid gland. After years of work he successfully isolated thyroxine, the active principle of the thyroid gland. He also performed vital research on the hormones of the adrenal gland and isolated several steroids from the adrenal gland cortex, including the steroid hormone cortisone. It was this work which earned him much international acclaim and a share in the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. After serving as the Head of the Biochemistry Section in the Graduate School of the Mayo Foundation for several years he retired in 1951 and became a visiting professor of chemistry at Princeton University.