Otto Heinrich Warburg was born in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1883, close to the Swiss border. Otto's mother was the daughter of a Protestant family of bankers and civil servants from Baden. His father, Emil Warburg, had converted to Protestantism as an adult, although Emil's parents were Orthodox Jews.[4] Emil was a member of the illustrious Warburg family of Altona. Emil was also president of the Physikalische Reichsanstalt, Wirklicher Geheimer Oberregierungsrat (True Senior Privy Counselor)

Otto Warburg studied chemistry under Emil Fischer, and earned his doctorate in chemistry in Berlin in 1906. He then studied under Ludolf von Krehl and earned the degree of doctor of medicine in Heidelberg in 1911

After earning doctorates in chemistry at the University of Berlin (1906) and in medicine at Heidelberg (1911), Warburg became a prominent figure in the institutes of Berlin-Dahlem. He first became known for his work on the metabolism of various types of ova at the Marine Biological Station in Naples. His Nobel Prize in 1931 was in recognition of his research into respiratory enzymes

By 1932 Warburg had isolated the first of the so-called yellow enzymes, or flavoproteins, which participate in dehydrogenation reactions in cells, and he discovered that these enzymes act in conjunction with a nonprotein component (now called a coenzyme), flavin adenine dinucleotide. In 1935 he discovered that nicotinamide forms part of another coenzyme, now called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, which is also involved in biological dehydrogenations.

By 1932 Warburg had isolated the first of the so-called yellow enzymes, or flavoproteins, which participate in dehydrogenation reactions in cells, and he discovered that these enzymes act in conjunction with a nonprotein component (now called a coenzyme), flavin adenine dinucleotide. In 1935 he discovered that nicotinamide forms part of another coenzyme, now called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, which is also involved in biological dehydrogenations.