View source for William P. Murphy

{{Short description|American recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine}}
{{About|the Nobel Prize Scientist|other people who share the same name|William Murphy (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = William P. Murphy Sr.
| image              = William P Murphy.jpg
| image_upright      = 
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = William Parry Murphy
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1892|02|06}}<ref name="ANB">[https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1202115 Murphy, William Parry] at [[American National Biography]] website</ref>
| birth_place        = [[Stoughton, Wisconsin]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1987|10|09|1892|02|06}}
| death_place        = {{nowrap|[[Brookline, Massachusetts]], U.S.}}
| occupation         = Academic, researcher, physician
| education          = [[University of Oregon]]<br>[[Harvard Medical School]]
| spouse             = {{marriage|Harriett Adams|1919|1980|end=her death}}
| children           = 2; including [[William P. Murphy Jr.|William Jr.]]
| awards             = [[Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh]] {{small|(1930)}}<br>[[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]]<ref name="NP1934">[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1934/ The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1934] at [[Nobel Prize]] website</ref> {{small|(1934)}}
| footnotes          = 
}}
'''William Parry Murphy Sr.''' (February 6, 1892 – October 9, 1987) was an American physician who shared the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in 1934 with [[George Richards Minot]] and [[George Hoyt Whipple]] for their combined work in devising and treating macrocytic [[anemia]] (specifically, [[pernicious anemia]]).<ref name="ANB" /><ref name="NP1934" /><ref name="Obit">{{cite news |title=Dr. William Murphy, Brookline; Won 1934 Nobel Prize in Medicine |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63496657/william-p-murphy-1892-1987/ |work=The Boston Globe |date=October 11, 1987 |location=Boston, MA |page=53 |access-date=November 18, 2020 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref>

==Early life==
Murphy was born on February 6, 1892, at [[Stoughton, Wisconsin|Stoughton]], [[Wisconsin]]<ref name="Obit"/> and moved to [[Condon, Oregon]] as a youth.<ref>[https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2015/02/vintage_oregon_happy_birthday.html Vintage Oregon: Happy Birthday to Nobel Prize winner from Oregon | OregonLive.com] Retrieved 2018-11-26.</ref> His father, Thomas Francis Murphy, was a congregational minister of English and Irish heritage. His mother, Rosa Anna Parry, was of a Welsh landowning background. Murphy was educated at the public schools of Wisconsin and Oregon. He completed his A.B. degree in 1914 from the [[University of Oregon]].<ref name="Obit"/> He completed his M.D. in 1922 from [[Harvard Medical School]].<ref name="ANB" /><ref name="Obit"/>

==Career==
{{refimprove section|date=December 2023}}
Murphy's later work in pernicious anemia would build on that of Whipple. In 1924, Whipple bled dogs to make them anemic (work inspired by war injury work), and then fed them various substances to gauge their improvement.<ref>{{cite web |title=Professor I. Holmgren – Award Ceremony Speech |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1934/ceremony-speech/#:~:text=It%20was%20known%20beforehand%2C%20it,with%20food%20of%20various%20kinds. |website=www.nobelprize.org |access-date=2025-11-01}}</ref> He discovered that ingesting large amounts of liver seemed to restore anemia more quickly of all foods. Minot and Whipple then set about to chemically isolate the curative substance. These investigations showed that iron in the liver was responsible for curing anemia from bleeding, but meanwhile liver had been tried on people with [[pernicious anemia]] and some effect was seen there, also.{{cn|date=December 2023}} The active ingredient in this case, found serendipitously, was not iron, but rather a water-soluble extract containing a new substance. From this extract, chemists were ultimately able to isolate [[vitamin B12|vitamin B<sub>12</sub>]] from the liver. Even before the vitamin had been completely characterized, the knowledge that raw liver and its extracts treated pernicious anemia (previously a terminal disease) was a major advance in medicine.{{cn|date=December 2023}} Minot and Murphy's famous paper ''Treatment of pernicious anemia by a special diet'' was published in 1926.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Minot | first=George R. |author2=Murphy, William P.|title=Treatment of pernicious anemia by a special diet | journal=JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association | publisher=American Medical Association (AMA) | volume=87 | issue=7 | date=August 14, 1926 | issn=0098-7484 | doi=10.1001/jama.1926.02680070016005 | pages=470–476}}</ref>

In 1930, Murphy was awarded the [[Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh]] with [[George Minot]].{{cn|date=December 2023}}

In 1951, Murphy was one of seven Nobel Laureates who attended the 1st&nbsp;[[Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings|Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/laureates/meeting-1951|title=1st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting - Laureates|website=www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org|access-date=2018-01-11|archive-date=2022-09-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927152328/https://www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/laureates/meeting-1951|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Murphy married Pearl Harriett Adams (died 1980) on September 10, 1919. They had a son, [[William P. Murphy Jr.]], and a daughter, Priscilla Adams.<ref name="SNAC">[http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6960fj7 Murphy, William P.] at [[SNAC]] website</ref>

Murphy died on October 9, 1987 in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]] at the age of 95.<ref name="ANB" />

==References==
<references />

==External links==
*[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HMS.Count:med00160 William Parry Murphy papers], 1906-1987 (inclusive), 1919-1987 (bulk), HMS c284. Harvard Medical Library, [https://www.countway.harvard.edu/index.html Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine], [https://www.countway.harvard.edu/menuNavigation/chom.html Center for the History of Medicine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116172222/https://www.countway.harvard.edu/menuNavigation/chom.html |date=2013-01-16 }}, [http://hms.harvard.edu/ Harvard Medical School]
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1934 ''Pernicious Anemia''
{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1926-1950}}
{{1934 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, William}}
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:Harvard Medical School alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Oregon alumni]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:People from Stoughton, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Physicians from Oregon]]
[[Category:People from Condon, Oregon]]
[[Category:Vitamin researchers]]
[[Category:20th-century American people]]