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

* Emil Fischer

1852-1919

 

Portrait: 43
Location - Floor: First - Zone: Room 138 - Wall: North - Sequence: 5
Source: Kedzie Collection
Sponsor: John W. Frost


 
Emil Fischer
 

Generally considered the greatest organic chemist of his time, Fischer received the 1902 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on carbohydrates and purines. His discovery that phenylhydrazine reacts with carbohydrates to form osazones enabled him to elucidate the stereochemistry of sugars. First to synthesize adenine and guanine, he made the first synthetic nucleotides. Among many other contributions was his work on protein structure and synthesis, the "lock-and-key" model for enzyme reactions, structure of triarylmethane dyes, and the design of laboratory hoods and safety equipment.