Marcel Florkin


Marcel Florkin was a Belgian biochemist. Florkin was graduated as a Doctor in Medicine and became a professor of biochemistry at the University of Liège.
In 1951, he was the initiator of the Belgian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Together with Christian de Duve, and others, he wrote a proposal for the statutes which was adopted in 1952, on the first general meeting. In 1944, he published a book concerning biochemical evolution, in which he explained the relevance of evolution for understanding differences in metabolism and chemical makeup between different types of organisms. In later years he applied the principles of biosemiotics on biochemistry. In 1946, Marcel Florkin was awarded the Francqui Prize on Biological and Medical Sciences. He was a member of the Association for the intellectual and artistic progress of Wallonia.