Malcolm Dixon (biochemist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Malcolm Dixon
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| Born | 18 April 1899 |
| Died | 7 December 1985 (aged 86) Cambridge, England, UK
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| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (PhD) |
| Known for | Enzymes (with Edwin C. Webb) |
| Awards | FRS (1942) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
| Thesis | The types of oxidation-reduction system, enzymic and non-enzymic, present in living animal tissues (1925) |
| Doctoral advisor | Frederick Hopkins |
| Doctoral students |
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Malcolm Dixon (born April 18, 1899 – died December 7, 1985) was an important British scientist. He was a biochemist, which means he studied the chemistry of living things.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Malcolm Dixon was born in Cambridge, UK, on April 18, 1899. His parents were Allick Page Dixon and Caroline Dewe Dixon.
He went to the University of Cambridge for his studies. In 1925, he earned his PhD (a high-level degree). His research was guided by a famous scientist named Frederick Gowland Hopkins.
Amazing Enzyme Discoveries
Dixon spent his career studying enzymes. Enzymes are like tiny helpers in our bodies. They make chemical reactions happen very quickly. He wanted to understand how enzymes work and how to make them pure.
He looked closely at how enzymes speed up reactions. He studied a process called oxidation in the body. He also looked at how certain metals can help or stop these reactions.
One enzyme he studied was called xanthine oxidase. He found that this enzyme produced something called hydrogen peroxide. This hydrogen peroxide could actually stop the enzyme from working! But he also found that another enzyme, catalase, could fix this problem. This discovery helped scientists understand how catalase is important in living things.
Dixon also studied another enzyme called D-amino acid oxidase. He learned a lot about how this enzyme connects with other parts to do its job. He also found out what kinds of substances it works with.
Clever Ways to Study Enzymes
Malcolm Dixon was very good at using special tools called manometers. These tools help measure gases in experiments.
In 1931, he worked with two other scientists, David Keilin and Robin Hill. Together, they looked at a substance called cytochrome c for the first time. This was a big step in understanding how cells get energy.
Dixon also came up with a smart way to show how things stop enzymes from working. This method is now called the Dixon plot. It's a graph that helps scientists see how much an inhibitor (something that slows down an enzyme) affects the enzyme's activity.
The Book Enzymes
One of Dixon's most famous achievements was writing a book called Enzymes. He wrote it with Edwin C. Webb. The book was first published in 1958 and had new versions in 1964 and 1979.
This book was very important for biochemistry. It was one of the first big attempts to create a clear system for naming and classifying enzymes. This system became the basis for how enzymes are named and grouped today by the IUBMB (International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology).
Awards and Recognition
Because of his important work, Malcolm Dixon was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1942. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK. In 1950, he also became a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.
Malcolm Dixon passed away in Cambridge in 1985.
