James B. Sumner

Who was James B. Sumner?

James B. Sumner lived from November 19, 1887 to August 12, 1955. Sumner was born on November 19, 1887, in Canton, Massachusetts. Sumner graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in 1910 where he was acquainted with prominent chemists Roger Adams, Farrington Daniels, Frank C. Whitmore, James Bryant Conant and Charles Loring Jackson. After a short period of working in the cotton knitting factory owned by his uncle, he accepted a teaching position at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. James Batcheller Sumner (November 19, 1887 – August 12, 1955) was an American biochemist. While hunting at age 17, Sumner was accidentally shot by a companion and as a result his left arm had to be amputated just below the elbow. He had been left-handed before the accident, after which he had to learn to do things with his right hand.

For the year 1911-12 he worked as a teaching assistantship in chemistry at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Historical significance

He discovered that enzymes can be crystallized, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946 with John Howard Northrop and Wendell Meredith Stanley. He was also the first to prove that enzymes are proteins.