- Hermann Emil Fischer
Infobox Scientist
name = Emil Fischer
image_size = 180px
caption = Hermann Emil Fischer
birth_date = birth date|1852|10|9|df=y
birth_place =Euskirchen ,Germany
nationality =Germany
death_date = death date and age|df=yes|1919|7|15|1852|10|9
death_place =Berlin ,Germany
field =Chemistry
alma_mater =University of Bonn University of Strasbourg
work_institution =University of Munich (1875-81)University of Erlangen (1881-88)University of Würzburg (1888-92)University of Berlin (1892-1919)
doctoral_advisor =Adolf von Baeyer
doctoral_students =Alfred Stock Otto Diels Otto Ruff Walter A. Jacobs Ludwig Knorr Oskar Piloty Julius Tafel
known_for = Study ofsugars &purines
prizes =Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1902)Hermann Emil Fischer (9 October 1852 - 15 July 1919) was a German
chemist and recipient of theNobel Prize for Chemistry in 1902.Biography
Early years
Fischer was born in
Euskirchen , nearCologne , the son of abusinessman . After graduating he wished to studynatural science s, but his father compelled him to work in the family business until determining that his son was unsuitable. Fischer then attended theUniversity of Bonn in 1872, but switched to theUniversity of Strasbourg in 1872. He earned hisdoctorate in 1874 with his study ofphthalein and was appointed to a position at the university.Academic career
In 1875
von Baeyer was asked to succeedLiebig at theUniversity of Munich and Fischer went there with him to become an assistant inorganic chemistry .In 1878 Fischer qualified as a Privatdozent at
Munich , where he was appointed Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry in 1879. In the same year he was offered, but refused, the Chair of Chemistry atAix-la-Chapelle .In 1881 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the
University of Erlangen and in 1883 he was asked by the Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik to direct its scientific laboratory. Fischer, however, whose father had now made him financially independent, preferred academic work.In 1888 he was asked to become Professor of Chemistry at the
University of Würzburg and here he remained until 1892, when he was asked to succeed A. W. Hofmann in the Chair of Chemistry at theUniversity of Berlin . Here he remained until his death in 1919.Research work
Fischer's early discovery of
phenylhydrazine and its influence on his later work have already been mentioned. While he was at Munich, Fisher continued to work on thehydrazine s and, working there with his cousin Otto Fischer, who had followed him to Munich, he and Otto worked out a new theory of the constitution of the dyes derived fromtriphenylmethane , proving this by experimental work to be correct.At Erlangen Fischer studied the active principles of
tea ,coffee andcocoa , namely,caffeine andtheobromine , and established the constitution of a series of compounds in this field, eventually synthesizing them.The work, however, on which Fischer's fame chiefly rests, was his studies of the
purine s and thesugar s. This work, carried out between 1882 and 1906 showed that various substances, little known at that time, such asadenine ,xanthine , in vegetable substances, caffeine and, in animal excrement,uric acid andguanine , all belonged to one homogeneous family and could be derived from one another and that they corresponded to differenthydroxyl andamino derivatives of the same fundamental system formed by a bicyclicnitrogen ous structure into which the characteristicurea group entered. This parent substance, which at first he regarded as being hypothetical, he called purine in 1884, and he synthesized it in 1898. Numerous artificial derivatives, more or less analogous to the naturally-occurring substances, came from his laboratory between 1882 and 1896.In 1884 Fischer began his great work on the sugars, which transformed the knowledge of these compounds and welded the new knowledge obtained into a coherent whole. Even before 1880 the
aldehyde formula ofglucose had been indicated, but Fischer established it by a series of transformations such as oxidation intoaldonic acid and the action of phenylhydrazine which he had discovered and which made possible the formation of thephenylhydrazone s and theosazone s. By passage to a common osazone, he established the relation between glucose,fructose andmannose , which he discovered in 1888. In 1890, byepimer ization between gluconic andmannonic acid s, he established the stereochemical andisomer ic nature of the sugars, and between 1891 and 1894 he established the stereochemical configuration of all the known sugars and exactly foretold the possible isomers, by an ingenious application of the theory of the asymmetrical carbon atom of Van't Hoff and Le Bel, published in 1874. Reciprocal syntheses between differenthexose s by isomerization and then betweenpentose s, hexoses, andheptose s by reaction of degradation and synthesis proved the value of the systematics he had established. His greatest success was his synthesis of glucose, fructose and mannose in 1890, starting fromglycerol .This monumental work on the sugars, carried out between 1884 and 1894, was extended by other work, the most important being his studies of the
glucoside s.Between 1899 and 1908 Fischer made his great contributions to knowledge of the
protein s. He sought effective analytical methods of separating and identifying the individualamino acid s, discovering a new type, the cyclic amino acids:proline andoxyproline . He also studied the synthesis of proteins by obtaining the various amino acids in an optically active form in order to unite them. He was able to establish the type of bond that would connect them together in chains, namely, thepeptide bond , and by means of this he obtained the dipeptides and later the tripeptides andpolypeptide s. In 1901 he discovered, in collaboration with Fourneau, the synthesis of the dipeptide, glycyl-glycine and in that year he also published his work on thehydrolysis ofcasein . Amino acids occurring in nature were prepared in the laboratory and new ones were discovered. His synthesis of the oligopeptides culminated in an octodecapeptide, which had many characteristics of natural proteins. This and his subsequent work led to a better understanding of the proteins and laid the foundations for later studies of them.In addition to his work in the fields already mentioned, Fischer also studied the
enzyme s and the chemical substances in thelichen s which he found during his frequent holidays in theBlack Forest , and also substances used intanning and, during the final years of his life, thefat s. In 1890, he also proposed a "Lock and Key Model" to visualize the substrate and enzyme interaction. Though, later studies did not support this model in all enzymatic reactions.Fischer is noted for his work on sugars among other work the
organic synthesis of (+) glucose [E. Fischer, Ber. Dtsch. Chem. Ges. 1890, 23, 799 ± 805. ] and purines (including the first synthesis ofcaffeine ).Personal life
At the age of 18, before he went to the University of Bonn, Fischer suffered from
gastritis , which attacked him again towards the end of his tenure of the Chair at Erlangen and caused him to refuse a tempting offer to followVictor Meyer at the Federal Technical University at Zurich and to take a year's leave of absence before he went, in 1888, to Würzburg. Throughout his life he was well served by his excellentmemory , which enabled him, although he was not a naturally good speaker, to memorize manuscripts of lectures that he had written.He was particularly happy at Würzburg where he enjoyed walks among the hills and he also made frequent visits to the Black Forest. His administrative work, especially when he went to Berlin, revealed him as a tenacious campaigner for the establishment of scientific foundations, not only in chemistry, but in other fields of work as well. His keen understanding of scientific problems, his intuition and love of
truth and his insistence onexperiment al proof ofhypotheses , marked him as one of the truly greatscientist s of all time.In 1888 Fischer married Agnes Gerlach, daughter of
Joseph von Gerlach , Professor of Anatomy at Erlangen. Unhappily his wife died seven years after their marriage. They had three sons, one of whom was killed in theFirst World War ; another took his own life at the age of 25 as a result ofcompulsory military training . The third son, Hermann Otto Laurenz Fischer, who died in 1960, was Professor of Biochemistry in theUniversity of California at Berkeley . Fischer, like is son, took his own life in 1919 in Berlin. [cite web | title=Emil Fischer | url=http://www.nndb.com/people/703/000091430/ | work=The Notable Names Database| date=2008 | accessdate=2008-09-18]Honours, awards, and legacy
Fischer was made a Prussian Geheimrat (Excellenz), and held
honorary doctorate s of the Universities of Christiania, Cambridge (England), Manchester and Brussels. He was also awarded the Prussian Order of Merit and the Maximilian Order for Arts and Sciences. In 1902 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on sugar and purine syntheses.Many consider Fischer to be the most brilliant chemist who ever lived, as his numerous contributions to science, especially chemistry and biochemistry. Many names of chemical reactions and concepts are named after him:
*
Fischer indole synthesis
*Fischer projection
*Fischer oxazole synthesis
*Fischer peptide synthesis
*Fischer phenylhydrazine and oxazone reaction
*Fischer reduction
*Fischer-Speier esterification
*Fischer glycosidation When Fischer died in 1919, the Emil Fischer Memorial Medal was instituted by the German Chemical Society.
See also
*
List of chemists References
*cite journal|title= Emil Fischer - Unequalled Classicist, Master of Organic Chemistry Research, and Inspired Trailblazer of Biological Chemistry| author= Horst Kunz| journal= Angewandte Chemie International Edition |volume = 41| pages= 4439–4451 |doi=10.1002/1521-3773(20021202)41:23<4439::AID-ANIE4439>3.0.CO;2-6|year= 2002
External links
* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1902/fischer-lecture.html Nobel Lecture] "Syntheses in the Purine and Sugar Group" from Nobelprize.org website
* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1902/fischer-bio.html Biography] Biography from Nobelprize.org websitePersondata
NAME= Fischer, Hermann Emil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Fischer, Emil
SHORT DESCRIPTION= GermanChemist
DATE OF BIRTH= 9 October 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH=Euskirchen ,Germany
DATE OF DEATH= 15 July 1919
PLACE OF DEATH=Berlin ,Germany
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