Hans Fischer was a German organic chemist awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the chemical makeup of hemin and chlorophyll. His most noted success was the complete synthesis of hemin. Fischer’s research concentrated on the pigments in blood, bile, and the leaves of plants.
Early Life and Scientific Foundation
Hans Fischer was born in 1881 in Höchst, Germany, to Dr. Eugen Fischer, a chemist, and Anna Herdegen. Fischer pursued a dual education in both chemistry and medicine, studying at the University of Lausanne and the University of Marburg. He earned a degree in chemistry in 1904 and earned his M.D. from the University of Munich in 1908. This blended academic background gave him a distinct perspective on the chemical processes within living organisms.
His early career included positions at a medical clinic in Munich and the First Berlin Chemical Institute, where he worked under chemist Emil Fischer. He held several academic posts, including a professorship in medical chemistry at the University of Innsbruck in 1916 and another at the University of Vienna in 1918. In 1921, Fischer accepted the position of Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich, a post he held for the remainder of his life.
Groundbreaking Porphyrin Research
Fischer’s work involved a class of complex organic ring-like molecules called porphyrins. These compounds are found throughout nature and form the basis of many biological pigments. His research focused on determining the structure of porphyrin-based molecules: hemin, the pigment that gives blood its red color, and chlorophyll, the pigment that enables photosynthesis in plants.
His work on hemin, a component of the hemoglobin protein in red blood cells, represented a significant task of structural analysis. By systematically breaking down the hemin molecule into smaller pieces, Fischer was able to identify its constituent parts. He discovered that its core structure was related to a simpler compound called pyrrole, which allowed him to deduce the precise arrangement of atoms within the hemin molecule.
The culmination of this research came in 1929 with the total synthesis of hemin in his laboratory. This achievement was a landmark in the field of organic chemistry, as it confirmed his structural analysis was correct. Synthesizing such a complex natural molecule from simpler, known compounds had rarely been accomplished, and it provided definitive proof of hemin’s structure.
Fischer also dedicated a significant portion of his research to the molecular structure of chlorophyll. He demonstrated the close structural relationship between the red pigment of blood and the green pigment of leaves, showing they were both built from a similar porphyrin framework. Although he did not achieve the complete synthesis of chlorophyll, his laboratory was responsible for elucidating key aspects of its structure. His work laid the groundwork for the eventual synthesis of chlorophyll by other chemists.
Receiving the Nobel Prize
In 1930, Hans Fischer was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The prize was granted “for his researches into the constitution of haemin and chlorophyll and especially for his synthesis of haemin.” The synthesis of hemin, in particular, was highlighted as a crowning achievement of his research.
The Nobel Prize brought international acclaim to Fischer and his laboratory at the Technical University of Munich. It solidified his reputation as one of the world’s leading organic chemists. The prize recognized not only the result but also the meticulous and painstaking analytical methods he developed to probe the structures of these molecules. This honor was one of several he received, including the Liebig Memorial Medal in 1929 and the Davy Medal in 1937.
World War II and Final Years
The outbreak of World War II created exceedingly difficult circumstances for scientific research in Germany. Despite the challenges, Fischer was deeply committed to his research and continued his work at the Munich Institute of Technology, studying chlorophyll and other natural pigments.
The war, however, brought an end to his career and life. In the final months of the conflict, Allied bombing raids on Munich resulted in the destruction of his institute. The buildings that housed his laboratories, along with his equipment, samples, and a lifetime of research notes, were lost.
Faced with the ruin of his laboratory and the bleak outlook for post-war Germany, Fischer’s spirit was broken. On March 31, 1945, just weeks before the end of the war in Europe, he took his own life in Munich.