Hermann Emil Fischer

Hermann Emil Fischer (Flamersheim, Germany, 9 October, 1852 – Berlin, 15 July 1919) is one of the founders of classic organic chemistry. He received the 1902 Nobel Prize in chemistry for pioneering work on sugar and purine syntheses.

Life

Fischer was born and raised in Flamersheim (part of Euskirchen) in North-Rhine-Westphalia. In 1869 he received his high-school diploma and after a non-finished education in business, he switched fields and went in 1871 to the University of Bonn to study chemistry. After a year he continued his studies in Strasbourg where he received his doctorate under Adolf von Baeyer in 1874. His topic was the study of phenolphtalein dyes. In 1875 he accompanied his supervisor to Munich, where he made his habilitation (second doctor's degree) three years later, and became Privatdozent. In 1879 he was promoted to professor of analytic chemistry. From 1885 until 1892 he was professor of chemistry at the University of Würzburg and in 1892 he was appointed at the University of Berlin, where he remained until his death in 1919. He died by his own hand after he was told that he had cancer.

Work

Fischer's name lives on in the following chemical processes

• Fischer indole synthesis
• Fischer projection
• Fischer oxazole synthesis
• Fischer peptide synthesis
• Fischer phenylhydrazine and oxazone reaction
• Fischer reduction
• Fischer-Speier esterification
• Fischer glycosidation

The Fischer-Tropsch process is named after Franz Emil Fischer (1877 – 1947).