Not only did he discover the lysosome and peroxisome of the cell organelle, but he also dedicated a substantial part of his research to insulin and glucagon. For this, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1974.
As an emeritus professor, de Duve was devoted to the study of the origin and evolution of life, writing three acclaimed books on the subject. Until his death in 2003, he studied the correlation between the knowledge of brain cells and our place in the universe.