Lafayette Mendel

Lafayette Benedict Mendel (February 5, 1872 – December 9, 1935) was an American biochemist known for his work in nutrition including the study of Vitamin A, Vitamin B, lysine and tryptophan.

Life

Mendel was born in Delhi, New York, son of Benedict Mendel, a merchant born in Aufhausen, Germany in 1833, and Pauline Ullman, born in Eschenau, Germany. His father immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1851, his mother in 1870.

At 15, he won a New York State scholarship. Mendel studied classics, economics and the humanities, as well as biology and chemistry at Yale University and graduated with honors in 1891.

He then began graduate work at the Sheffield Scientific School on a fellowship and studied physiological chemistry under Russell Henry Chittenden. He finished his Ph.D. 1893 after only two years; his thesis topic was the study of the seed storage protein edestin extracted from hemp seed. Upon graduation, he began as an assistant at the Sheffield School in Physiological chemistry. He also studied in Germany and was made an assistant professor on his return in 1896. He became a full professor in 1903 with appointments in the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Graduate School as well as Sheffield.