Butenandt received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939 for studying sex hormones.
Butenandt, in his acceptance speech, described how he was able to isolate a new
compound from male urine that he called androsterone. Ruzicka, the scientist that
shared the prize, was the first to synthesize this chemical in 1935 from a
cholesterol derivative. This androgen plays a role in controlling male sexual development.
This chemical may also serve as a pheromone according to researchers at the
Ludwig-Bolzman-Institut in Vienna, but it was found to be active mostly when a woman
was ovulating.
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