Racker, Efraim (1913–1991)

Polish-born US biochemist. He was chief of nutrition and physiology at the Public Health Research Institute, New York 1943–66, and was at Cornell 1966–91. A pioneer in the biochemistry of cancer, he made major contributions to studies of cellular respiration, enzyme activity, and membrane physiology.

He was born in Neu Sandez. A Jewish physician, he fled the Nazis and went to Wales to study brain metabolism 1938–40. He went to the USA to be a research associate at the University of Minnesota 1941–42, completed his medical residency at Harlem Hospital, New York 1942–44, then moved to New York University 1944–52 and Yale 1952–54.