Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen. The 1970 Nobel Prize for chemistry has been awarded to Dr. Luis Leloir for work of fundamental importance for biochemistry. Dr. Leloir receives the prize for his discovery of the sugar nucleotides and their function in the biosynthesis of carbohydrates. A polysaccharide molecule is composed of a large number of sugar or sugar-like units.
Carbohydrates are of great importance in biology.
The unique reaction, which makes life possible on Earth, namely the assimilation of the green plants, produces sugar, from which originate, not only all carbohydrates but, indirectly, also all other components of living organisms. The important role of carbohydrates, especially sugars and starch, in human food and, generally, in the metabolism of living organisms, is well known. It is not surprising, therefore, that the carbohydrates and their metabolism have been the subject of comprehensive and in many respects successful biochemical and medical research for a long time. While working on these problems, Leloir made the discoveries for which he has now been awarded the Nobel Prize. Before these discoveries were made, our knowledge of carbohydrate biochemistry was rather one-sided.