MSU Gallery of Chemists' Photo-Portraits and Mini-Biographies

* Eduard Büchner

1860-1917

Büchner found that if yeast cells are crushed with sand and clay, then pressed through a cloth bag, the resulting cell-free liquid produces alcoholic fermentation. This discovery, for which he received the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, destroyed the concept that a "life force" is essential for fermentation and other reactions in living cells, and helped lay the foundation for modern biochemistry.