Peter D. Mitchell

Peter Dennis Mitchell FRS[1] (29 September 1920 – 10 April 1992) was a British biochemist who was awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his theory of the chemiosmotic mechanism of ATP synthesis.

He was appointed a research post in the Department of Biochemistry, Cambridge, in 1942, and was awarded a Ph.D. in early 1951 for work on the mode of action of penicillin.

[3] From 1963 to 1965, he supervised the restoration of a Regency-fronted Mansion, known as Glynn House, at Cardinham near Bodmin, Cornwall - adapting a major part of it for use as a research laboratory.

Mitchell realised that the movement of ions across an electrochemical potential difference could provide the energy needed to produce ATP.

[12] In 1978 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his contribution to the understanding of biological energy transfer through the formulation of the chemiosmotic theory.

In chemiosmosis, ions move down their electrochemical gradient across a membrane.
The discovery of ATP synthase vindicated Mitchell's hypothesis. Today, it is well-accepted that chemiosmosis of H+ ions power the synthesis of ATP, and other biochemical processes.