Vincent du Vigneaud

Vincent du Vigneaud was born May 18, 1901, and trained as a biochemist in an era when hormones were still biological mysteries. His focus settled on sulphur compounds, the unglamorous molecules that turned out to anchor some of the body's most critical work. The breakthrough came with oxytocin, the peptide that triggers labor and bonding - he didn't just isolate it, he synthesized it, reconstructing the entire sequence in the lab. That feat earned him the 1955 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, recognition that a hormone wasn't magic but architecture, and architecture could be rebuilt. He continued working until his death on December 11, 1978, having shown that even the most human signals submit to the periodic table.