Edward C. Kendall. Portrait of Edward Calvin Kendall (1886-1972), the American biochemist who isolated thyroxin (controls metabolic activity) and cortisone (used to treat arthritis). In 1914 Kendall isolated a hormone from the thyroid gland. He named it thyroxin and showed that it was a compound of iodine and the amino acid tyrosine. In the 1930s Kendall investigated the secretions of the adrenal gland and isolated twenty-eight steroids. Kendall found that four, labelled A, B, E and F, were physiologically active. Compound E, now called cortisone, was found to be effective against rheumatoid arthritis. In 1950 Kendall was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine.