Christian de Duve | Nobel winner, 95

A Belgian university says biochemist Christian de Duve, 95, who won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1974, died in an act of euthanasia May 4.

His university, UCL in Louvain-la-Neuve, confirmed it was a case of euthanasia but did not disclose the method.

Mr. de Duve shared the Nobel Prize with two other scientists for their work and discoveries on the structural and functional organization of the cell.

One month before his death, he made the decision to end his life and granted an interview to the daily Le Soir to be published after his death.

He said he had been getting weaker and decided to plan, as he put it, "my own disappearance." - AP