Windaus, Adolf

Windaus, Adolf (1876-1959), German biochemist and Nobel laureate, noted for his research on biologically important substances. Windaus was born in Berlin and educated at the universities of Berlin and Freiburg.He was awarded the 1928 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work defining a group of steroids, including cholesterol, and their connection to vitamins. He showed that ergosterol, when activated by ultraviolet light, prevents the disease rickets.