Yellapragada Subba Rao (12 January 1895 – 8 August 1948) was a pioneering Indian biochemist who discovered the function of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as an energy source in the cell, developed methotrexate for the treatment of cancer and led the department at Lederle laboratories in which Benjamin Minge Duggar discovered chlortetracycline (Aureomycin) in 1945. A student of Madras Medical College, his elder brother and younger brother both died due to tropical sprue in the span of 8 days. He subsequently discovered folic acid as a cure for tropical sprue. He discovered methotrexate, a chemotherapy drug still used today and also used for rheumatoid arthritis, and diethylcarbamazine (DEC), the only effective drug for treating filariasis. Most of his career was spent in the United States. Despite his isolation of ATP, Subbarao did not gain tenure at Harvard though he would lead some of America's most important medical research during World War II. He is also credited with the first synthesis of the chemical compounds folic acid and methotrexate. Subbarao died in the United States due to cardiac arrest. Currently as an honour, after his death a street is named after him in his hometown Bhimavaram. A contemporary of Subbarao, Cyrus H. Fiske, suppressed and destroyed many of his important works out of envy. Subbarao's colleague, George Hitchings admitted, "Some of the nucleotides isolated by Subbarao had to be rediscovered years later by other workers because Fiske, apparently out of jealousy, did not let Subbarao's contributions see the light of the day." A fungus genus has been named Subbaromyces in his honor. There is also a species of jumping spider (Family Salticidae) from genus Tanzania named in his honor (Tanzania yellapragadai).Writing in the April 1950 issue of Argosy, Doron K. Antrim observed, "You've probably never heard of Dr. Yellapragada Subbarao. Yet because he lived, you may be alive and are well today. Because he lived, you may live longer." Early life Youth He was born in Bhimavaram, Madras Presidency, now in West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh in India to a Telugu-speaking Telugu brahmin family. He passed through a traumatic period in his schooling at Rajahmundry (due to the premature death of close relatives by disease) and eventually matriculated in his third attempt from the Hindu High School, Madras. He passed the Intermediate Examination from the Presidency College and entered the Madras Medical College where his education was supported by friends and Kasturi