Two chemistry Nobel medals sold in December auctions

Two chemistry Nobel prize medals were sold in the space of three days at auctions held in December. These included the 1948 medal awarded to Arne Tiselius and Adolf von Baeyer’s 1905 medal – the oldest Nobel prize in science yet to have been sold at auction.

Swedish chemist Tiselius was awarded his Nobel prize while working at Uppsala University for his research on electrophoresis – a technique used to separate biomolecules based on their size and charge. In particular, the Nobel committee cited Tiselius’ use of electrophoresis to study proteins found in blood serum. Tiselius would later preside over the Nobel Foundation as its chairman from 1960 to 1964.