William John Young was born on 26 January 1878 in Withington, Manchester, England.

[1] From 1900 to 1912, Young held the title of Assistant Biochemist at the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in London.

[3] Using this apparatus, Harden and Young inadvertently discovered the sugar diphosphate in the system.

Its discovery led to the ultimate description of fermentation in terms of molecular intermediates.

In 1915, he performed experiments to compare the effects of salvarsan and neosalvarsan to the behavior of atoxyl in animal blood.

[citation needed] In 1920, Young embarked on an investigation of the pigment melanin found in the skin and hair of animals and humans.