Stein, William Howard (1911-1980)

US biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1972 for his work in the amino-acid structure and biological activity of the enzyme ribonuclease. He worked closely with Stanford Moore to describe the amino acid composition of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease (1954-56), which complemented previous structural studies by Anfinsen on the enzyme. He shared the Nobel Prize with Moore and Anfinsen.

Stein was born in New York City. He was a promising student, graduating in chemistry from Harvard in 1933 and obtaining his PhD in biochemistry from Columbia University in 1938. He was appointed professor of biochemistry at the Rockefeller Institute in 1954.