|
Arabic
Bengali
Chinese
English
French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Malay
Polish
Portuguese
Spanish
Turkish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese|
BIOGRAPHIES OF GREAT SCIENTISTS
Fischer Emil German. Biography of a scientist
Directory / Biographies of great scientists
German organic chemist Emil Hermann Fischer was born on October 9, 1852 in Euskirchen, a small town near Cologne, in the family of Lorenz Fischer, a successful businessman, and Julia Fischer (nee Pensgen). Before entering the Wetzlar State School and the Bonn Gymnasium, he studied with a private teacher for three years. In the spring of 1869 he graduated with honors from the Bonn gymnasium. Although Emil hoped for an academic career, he agreed to work for two years in his father's firm, but showed so little interest in the matter that in the spring of 1871 his father sent him to the University of Bonn. Here he attended lectures by the famous chemist Friedrich August Kekule, the physicist August Kundt and the mineralogist Paul Groth. Largely under the influence of Kekule, who paid little attention to laboratory studies, Fischer's interest in chemistry began to wane, and he reached out to physics. In 1872, on the advice of his cousin, the chemist Otto Fischer, he transferred to the University of Strasbourg. In Strasbourg, under the influence of one of the professors, the young organic chemist Adolf von Bayer, Fischer had a renewed interest in chemistry. Fischer soon plunged into chemical research and was noticed after the discovery of phenylhydrazine (an oily liquid used to determine dextrose), a substance that he later used to classify and synthesize sugars. After receiving his doctorate in 1874, he took up a teaching position at the University of Strasbourg. When Bayer received a post at the University of Munich the following year, Fischer agreed to become his assistant. Financially independent and relieved of administrative and teaching duties, Fischer was able to concentrate his full attention on laboratory research. In collaboration with his cousin Otto, he used phenylhydrazine to study substances used in the production of organic dyes derived from coal. Prior to Fisher's research, the chemical structure of these substances had not been determined. In 1878, Emil Fischer was awarded the academic title of assistant professor. The following year, Professor Volgard, who was in charge of the analytical department, received an invitation to work at the University of Erlangen. His place, at the suggestion of Professor Bayer, was taken by Emil Fischer. Friends and family greeted the news with delight. The father sent Emil a long congratulatory letter, in which he said that he and his mother celebrated the success of their only son and drank a bottle of champagne. Fisher, being an organic chemist, became interested in biological and biochemical processes occurring in animal organisms. - The animal organism is a powerful laboratory, - said the scientist. - There is a synthesis of an incredible variety of substances! Carbohydrates, fats, proteins break down to provide energy and building material for other substances. Mankind has long sought to uncover the essence of these processes, but we are still far from the truth. There are two ways to reveal these secrets: either to study the decay products formed as a result of the vital activity of the body, which it throws out, or to try to synthesize substances that a living cell produces. In carrying out this task, chemistry has achieved considerable success, and yet many problems continued to remain unresolved. One of them - and perhaps the most important - was the problem of studying protein substances and protein metabolism. In humans and warm-blooded animals, protein substances break down, and urea is the final breakdown product. However, in animals and birds with "cold" blood, protein metabolism leads to the formation of uric acid. Neither the acid itself nor its derivatives have been studied so far, and Emil Fischer began research on this group of compounds. To establish their exact structure, it was necessary to study all possible options for obtaining one compound from another, to synthesize a wide variety of derivatives of these substances and isolate them from natural products. It was a huge field of activity, an inexhaustible source of ideas. In the course of research, Fisher made a very important discovery, which was successfully used in his future work. When organic acids were treated with phosphorus pentachloride, the corresponding chlorides were obtained, which had an increased reactivity and could easily be converted into acid derivatives. So Fisher was able to obtain trichlorpurine from uric acid, and with its subsequent treatment with caustic potassium and hydrogen iodide - xanthine. When xanthine was methylated, Fisher obtained caffeine, a colorless, bitter-tasting crystalline substance found in coffee beans and tea leaves. The synthesized substance was completely identical to natural caffeine, it had the same stimulating effect as the natural product. Fischer's success gradually became known and recognized outside of Germany. He received an invitation to a professorship in Aachen, then in Erlangen. Erlangen is a small town, but a new building has just been built for the university. In addition, Fischer was offered a permanent position as professor of chemistry here, and he did not hesitate to accept this offer. Emil traveled to Erlangen in a compartment at first alone, but in Nuremberg a young beautiful girl entered the compartment, accompanied by an elderly man, apparently her father. The lady's companion greeted him and introduced himself as Professor Jacob von Gerlach. Professor Gerlach's daughter, Agnes, listened attentively to their conversation. Could she have imagined that this random fellow traveler, who was also much older than her, would become her husband in a few years. Fischer, carried away by a conversation with Professor Gerlach, paid almost no attention to his charming companion. Despite frequent visits to the crowded receptions of Madame Bayer, he did not know how to deal with the ladies at all and usually felt somewhat embarrassed in their company, although he was an interesting conversationalist who knew music, theater, and painting perfectly. In 1885 Fischer became a professor at the University of Würzburg. He, carried away by scientific problems, did not have time to think about the house, about his personal affairs. His home was the laboratory, his happiness was science. But in the evenings, being left alone, Emil more and more often remembered the lovely girl he met on the train. He met Agnes more than once at receptions in Erlangen, talked to her, but only here, in Würzburg, he suddenly felt acutely that he was missing a girl. He was no longer fascinated by noisy and cheerful companies, where he spent his evenings, he constantly felt some kind of emptiness. Mrs. Knorr, the wife of his employee, became friends with Agnes back in Erlangen and often invited the girl to stay in Würzburg. Whenever Agnes came to Würzburg, Mrs. Knorr gave a reception each time, at which, not without intention, Emil was an indispensable guest. At one of these receptions, at the end of 1887, Fischer made a formal proposal to Agnes Gerlach, and the engagement was celebrated that evening. The wedding took place in Erlangen at the end of February the following year. Agnes brought warmth and happiness to Fischer's house. Agnes was her father's favorite, and from the very first day her husband's parents also fell in love with her. Everyone loved her - Agnes carried a radiant joy in herself. At the end of 1888, Fischer had a son. According to ancient German custom, he was given several names - Hermann Otto Lorenz. Despite the changes that marriage and the birth of a child brought to Fisher's life, his intensive research activity did not stop. Having developed and improved a number of methods for the synthesis and analysis of organic compounds, the great master of the experiment managed to achieve great success. After the synthesis of acrose, Fischer's collaborators Julius Tafel, Oskar Piloty and several graduate students began to carry out complex and multi-stage synthesis of natural sugars - mannose, fructose and glucose. These successes brought Fischer and the first international recognition. In 1890, the English Society of Chemistry awarded him the Davy Medal, and the Scientific Society in Uppsala elected him a corresponding member. In the same year, the German Chemical Society invited the scientist to speak in Berlin with a report on progress in the field of synthesis and study of sugars. Fischer continued to investigate compounds such as caffeine, theobromine (an alkaloid) and components of animal excrement, in particular uric acid and guanine, which he found to be derived from a colorless crystalline substance he called purine. By 1899, Fischer had synthesized a large number of purine derivatives, including purine itself (1898). Purine is an important compound in organic synthesis, as it was later discovered to be an essential component of cell nuclei and nucleic acids. In 1892, Fischer became director of the Chemical Institute of the University of Berlin, a post he held until his death. Scientific success inspired Fisher, but more and more depressing family hardships. The cold Berlin climate adversely affected the health of the sons, the boys were often sick. Fischer, who was convinced from his own experience that medicine is not omnipotent, was extremely worried about the children. But the worst test was ahead: shortly after the birth of her third son, Agnes fell ill, she developed an inflammation of the middle ear. The specialists insisted on an immediate operation, but the wife did not agree. The disease progressed and soon turned into meningitis. The operation was done, but it was too late - Agnes died. It happened in 1895. But grief did not break the scientist. Entrusting the care of his sons to a devoted housekeeper and experienced teachers, Fischer threw himself into work. Expanding his field of study from sugars to enzymes, he discovered that enzymes only react with substances with which they are chemically related. Through research with proteins, he established the number of amino acids that make up most proteins, as well as the relationship between the various amino acids. Over time, he synthesized peptides (combinations of amino acids) and classified more than forty types of proteins based on the number and types of amino acids formed by hydrolysis (a chemical breakdown process involving the splitting of a chemical bond and the addition of water elements). In 1902, Fischer was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "in recognition of his special merits connected with experiments in the synthesis of substances with saccharide and purine groups." Fischer's discovery of hydrazine derivatives turned out to be a brilliant solution to the problem of obtaining sugars and other compounds artificially. Moreover, his method for the synthesis of glycosides made a certain contribution to the development of plant physiology. Speaking of sugar research, Fischer stated in a Nobel lecture that "gradually the veil by which Nature concealed her secrets was lifted in matters concerning carbohydrates. Despite this, the chemical riddle of Life cannot be solved until organic chemistry will not study another, more complex subject - proteins. An active supporter of fundamental research, Fisher campaigned for interdisciplinary projects such as the Solar Eclipse Observation Expedition to test the theory of relativity. Focusing on the policy of the Rockefeller Foundation, which made it possible to direct the activities of American scientists exclusively to fundamental research, Fischer received funds in 1911 to create the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin. In 1914 he received the equipment to set up the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim. However, the black shadow of the First World War hung over the world. Fischer fell on hard days. The youngest son Alfred, drafted into the army, was sent to Dobruja, to the Bucharest infirmary, where he contracted typhus and died. The year before, in 1916, his second son, who was also going to become a doctor, had died after a serious illness. Fortunately, the eldest son Herman remained, who became a professor of biochemistry at the University of California at Berkeley. Personal experiences were joined by difficulties with research activities: work in the laboratory was suspended due to the fact that there were not enough chemicals. A severe, incurable disease increasingly made itself felt, took away the last strength. After prolonged contact in the laboratory with phenylhydrazine, Fischer developed chronic eczema and gastrointestinal disturbances. Fischer was clearly aware of what awaited him, but he was not afraid of death. He calmly put all his affairs in order, finished work on manuscripts, managed to complete his autobiography, although he did not wait for its publication. Emil Fischer died on July 15, 1919. Richard Wilshetter considered him "an unparalleled classic, a master of organic chemistry, both in the field of analysis and in the field of synthesis, and in personal terms, the most beautiful person." In his honor, the German Chemical Society established the Emil Fischer medal. Fisher created a major scientific school. Among his students are Otto Diels, Adolf Windaus, Fritz Pregl, Otto Warburg. Author: Samin D.K.
▪ Copernicus Nicholas. Biography ▪ Stoletov Alexander. Biography ▪ Kolmogorov Andrei. Biography
Machine for thinning flowers in gardens
02.05.2024 Advanced Infrared Microscope
02.05.2024 Air trap for insects
01.05.2024
▪ Switching stabilized power supply 12V/100A ▪ The formula for the happiest songs has been discovered ▪ Creation of an artificial uterus
▪ site section Indicators, sensors, detectors. Article selection ▪ article Ensuring the security of military service. Basics of safe life ▪ article How was the Windows 10 desktop background created? Detailed answer ▪ article Driver of a mobile compressor station. Standard instruction on labor protection ▪ article Fingerprints - how to make them visible. Chemical experience
Home page | Library | Articles | Website map | Site Reviews
www.diagram.com.ua |
We recommend interesting articles Section 
See other articles Section 
Latest news of science and technology, new electronics:
All languages of this page