Early Life

Emil Fischer was born on October 9, 1852 in Euskirchen, Prussia (Worek 40). Although, his family called him Emil, his real name is Hermann Emil Fischer (Worek 24). He was the eighth child in his family. Fischers’ father was named Laurenze Fischer; he was a local entrepreneur. His mother was named Julie Fischer (Peter).

While Fischer was younger, he had an excellent memory. He liked to solve scientific problems. Fischer also liked to prove hypotheses (Worek 24). Hermann Emil Fischer was a Christian. His ethnicity was caucasian. A chemist was considered his occupation and his nationality was German (“Emil Hermann Fischer”).

Fischer participated in the local school. He spent three years with a private tutor. He studied in Wetzlar and Bonn. His final exam was passed with distinction in 1869 (Worek 24).

Fischer studied chemistry at the University of Bonn in 1871. During that time, he wanted to study physics. One year later, he went to the University of Strasbourg. He went back to chemistry at that time (Worek 24). His academic advisor was Adolf von Baeyer (Peter). In 1874, he graduated from Strasbourg with a doctoral thesis. Then, Fischer continued his study at Munich. Fischer held honorary doctorates at the University of Cambridge, Manchester, Brussels, and Christiania.

Emil Fischer’s immediate family consisted of a spouse and three children. He married Agnes Gerlach, daughter of Professor J. von Gerlach, in 1888. They had three sons, two of which were not named. Hermann, son, was born 1888. The second and third son were not named. But one was born in 1894 (“Fischer, Emil Herman”).

All in all, Fischer was born in Germany and lived there all of his life. His schooling took many years. Fischer also received honorary doctorates at four different universities. He had three sons and a spouse named Agnes Gerlach. Emil was a great student and received multiple awards for his accomplishments.

Ideas

Emil Fischer invented many things, such as the lock-and-key mechanism. It was proposed in 1890. The mechanism was explained by the binding between the site of an enzyme and a substrate molecule. Fischer described the “lock” as an active site was a fixed structure and the “key” was the part that fit the fixed structure perfectly. People tested the lock-and-key to show that the active site is more flexible than this mechanism (“Emil Hermann Fischer”).

Emil Fischer had multiple great ideas. One was he showed the relationship between hydrazobenzene and sulphuric acid (Worek 24). He obtained the same osazone from three different sugars: glucose, fructose, and mannose. Hermann found out that these three have the same structure in the part that goes unaffected by phenylhydrazine. Another thing he did was he determined the 12 stereoisomers of glucose (“Fischer, Emil Herman”).

In 1882, Fischer began to work with caffeine and uric acid. He synthesized 130 compounds in 1882, including the first synthetic nucleotide. Fischer figured out they were related to unknown substances called purine. Emil synthesized hypnotic drugs derived from barbituric acid (“Fischer, Emil Herman”). In 1885, Fischer’s

experiments with phenylhydrazine led to his indole synthesis (Peter).

The biologically important phosphoric ester of a compound made from a purine type molecule and a carbohydrate. Emil and his son, Hermann, studied tannis. He described the action of enzymes as a lock-and-key mechanism (“Fischer, Emil Herman”). Emil worked on sugar from 1884 to 1894, particularly fructose, glucose, mannose, and a little with glycosides (Worek 24). His investigations into chemistry of proteins began in 1899. Hermann synthesized the amino acid or hithine in 1901 (“Emil Hermann Fischer”).

Fischer studied the active in tea, coffee, and cocoa in Erlangen. He established a constitution of things in his field. Fischer contributed to the study of proteins, enzymes, and other chemical substances (“Fischer, Emil Herman”). During World War I, he helped produce chemicals in Germany. The hydrazine base, phenylhydrazine, was first discovered by him. He applied the theory of the tetrahedral carbon atom to sugars to differentiate them (Peter). Fischer figured out these sugars were partial isomers. He conducted a new theory on the construction of dyes derived from triphenylmethane (Worek 24).

Accomplishments / Jobs

Emil was a professor from 1875 to 1919. He worked at the University of Munich as a teacher from 1875 to 1881. Hermann also worked at the University Erlangen from 1881 to about 1888. In 1888, he worked at Wurzburg until 1892. His last job was at the University of Berlin, he worked there the longest. Fischer worked in Berlin from 1892 until his death in 1919 (Peter).

In his earlier life, right out of college he joined his family business. Emil continued his education throughout this time. (“Fischer, Emil Herman”). Hermann was an unpaid lecturer in 1878, and a paid assistant professor in 1879. He accompanied Adolf von Baeyer at the University of Munich as an assistant (“Fischer, Emil Herman”). This time being 1875, where he helped with organic chemistry (Worek 24).

Hermann was given multiple awards and great recognition for his work in chemistry. The Davey Medal in 1890 and was elected Foreign Member of the Royal Society also called ForMemRS, which occurred in 1899 (“Fischer, Emil Herman”). The largest award he ever received was the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1902. Fischer was given this award for his research and experiments on sugar and purines (Worek 40).

Hermann Emil Fischer was awarded the German Chemical Society. He also received the Prussia Order of Merit. The Hoffman Medal was awarded by the German Chemical Society in 1906. In 1913, he received the Elliot Cresson Gold Medal by the Franklin Institute. After that, he was awarded the Barvarian-Maximilian Order for the Arts and the Sciences in 1913 (“Fischer, Emil Herman”).

End Life

Almost all of Hermann’s family died in his lifetime. His wife, Agnes Gerlach, died in 1895, six years after their marriage. Two out of three of his sons died before Emil’s death. Hermann, son, was a Biochemist at UC Berkeley. He died in 1960. One of which was not named committed suicide at the age of 25. Compulsory military training was the cause of his death in the year 1919 in Berlin. The third son died in World War I (“Fischer, Emil Herman”).

Emil had many illnesses during his end life. He had mercury poisoning, during a brief incursion into organic chemistry. Fischer received phenylhydrazine poisoning (“Fischer, Emil Herman”). He had a serious case of depression. He was also diagnosed with intestinal cancer (Peter).

Emil received depression from the losses of his two children during World War I. On July 15,1919, he committed suicide in Berlin, Germany (Worek 40). He was buried at the Kleist-Grabstatte by the Kleiner Wannsee, Berlin (“Fischer, Emil Herman”). Even after Hermann’s death he still received recognition for his great work as a chemist. The German Society initiated a prize named after him, The Emil Fischer Memorial Medal (Peter).

In conclusion, Hermann Emil Fischer lost two of his three sons because of the war and his wife, Agnes. Emil was sick many times in his career because of his job. He committed suicide because of his severe depression. Even after his death he was still recognised with a medal in honor of him. He was a fantastic chemist and he will always be remembered for his work.

Work Cited

Peter J., Ramberg. “Fischer, Emil.” Britannica Biographies (2012): 1. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.

Worek, Michael. Nobel a Century a Prize Winners. Buffalo, New York. Firefly Book Inc. 2010. Print.

“Emil Hermann Fischer.” Hutchinson’s Biography Database (2011): MasterFILE Premier. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.

“Fischer, Emil Hermann (1852-1919).” Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography (2005): 1. Science Reference Center. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.

Deutsche Illustrations. Emil Fischer. 1919. Berlin. Web. 9 March 2016.