Short answers, pulled from the story.
Cholesterol serves as the raw material for testosterone, entering a complex biochemical assembly line within cells. The process begins in mitochondria where cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme removes six carbon atoms to create pregnenolone.
Organon isolated crystalline male hormone first published in May 1935 papers. Adolf Butenandt determined chemical structure at Gdańsk Technical University and August synthesis by Butenandt and Hanisch achieved conversion from cholesterol base.
The liver processes most circulating testosterone through conjugation pathways. Glucuronosyltransferases convert roughly half into testosterone glucuronide while another 40% becomes inactive 17-ketosteroids like androsterone via reductase enzymes.
Over 95% of testosterone in men comes from testicular production while adrenal glands handle the remainder. Women produce far smaller quantities through ovarian thecal cells and placental tissue during pregnancy.
Arnold Adolph Berthold conducted early castration experiments on fowl linking testicular action to blood fractions. Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard self-injected dog and guinea pig testicle extracts in Paris during 1889 before colleagues ridiculed his findings.