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Emil Fischer (1852–1919)

1902 Chemistry

In recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his work on sugar and purine syntheses.

Hermann Emil Fischer always possessed an excellent memory, a fascination with scientific problems and a rare determination to prove hypotheses. These characteristics were essential for someone who would go on to become one of the greatest scientists of all time. Against his father’s will, who would have liked his son to continue the family timber business in Cologne, Germany, Fischer pursued the natural sciences, especially physics, and was rewarded for his dedication.

After three years with a private tutor, the young German attended the local school. He also studied in Wetzlar and Bonn, where he passed his final exam with distinction in 1869. Faced with his son’s insistence on studying science, his father decided to enroll him in the University of Bonn to study chemistry. What Fischer really wanted, however, was to dedicate himself to physics. One year later, accompanied by his cousin, Otto Fischer, he left for the University of Strasbourg. There he met Adolf von Baeyer, whose influence finally persuaded him to return to chemistry.

In 1874 he took his doctorate and was also appointed assistant teacher at Strasbourg. He continued his studies and discovered the first hydrazine base, phenylhydrazine, and showed its relationship with hydrazobenzene and sulphonic acid. In 1875, Adolf von Baeyer went to the University of Munich, and Fischer accompanied him as his assistant in the subject of organic chemistry. Later Fischer taught at the universities of Erlangen and Wurzburg, and in 1892 he was invited to the University of Berlin where he stayed until his death.

Fischer left his mark on research in every university in which he worked. In Munich he continued his studies in the field of hydrazenes and, along with his cousin Otto, formulated a new theory on the constitution of dyes derived from triphenylmethane. In Erlangen he studied the active ingredients of tea, coffee and cocoa and established the constitution of a series of components in this field. His work on sugars between 1884 and 1894 were significant, particularly his synthesis of glucose, fructose and mannose and his studies of glycosides.

His research into purines and sugars was recognized with the 1902 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Fischer also contributed to the study of proteins, enzymes and other chemical substances. His dedication to chemistry was further acknowledged with the Hofmann Medal from the German Chemical Society in 1906, the Elliot Cresson Gold Medal from the Franklin Institute in 1913, and many other distinctions. After his death, the German Chemical Society initiated a prize in his name, the Emil Fischer Memorial Medal.