Translation from German to English of: ‘Zur kenntniss der resorption einfacher, im besonderen stereoisomer zucker im dünndarm’ by Junzo Nagano.

Here we present a translation from German to English of a scientific paper titled ‘On the knowledge of the absorption of simple, in particular stereoisomeric sugars in the small intestine’ published in the journal Pflugers Arch. 90:389–404 in 1902 [1]. We provide the translation because this work represents an important contribution to the historical scientific record focusing on cell membrane function. We have included a brief foreword highlighting some of the scientific and historical context of the work.