Fischer, Hans (1881-1945)

German chemist awarded a Nobel prize 1930 for his work on haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying, red colouring matter in blood. He determined the molecular structures of three important biological pigments: haemoglobin, chlorophyll, and bilirubin.
Fischer was born in Höchst-am-Main, near Frankfurt, and studied at Marburg and Munich. He went to Austria as professor at Innsbruck 1915-18 and Vienna 1918-21, returning to Germany as professor at the Munich Technische Hochschule. In 1945 Fischer's laboratories were destroyed in an Allied bombing raid and in a fit of despair he committed suicide.
In 1921 Fischer began investigating haemoglobin, concentrating on haem, the iron-containing non-protein part of the molecule.
By 1929 he had elucidated the complete structure and synthesized haem. Chlorophyll, he found in the 1930s, has a similar structure. He then turned to the bile pigments, particularly bilirubin (the pigment responsible for the colour of the skin of patients suffering from jaundice), and by 1944 had achieved a complete synthesis of bilirubin.

Selected works

Hans Fischer was born in July 27, 1881 at Hoechst, on the river Main, in Germany. His father was Dr. Eugen Fischer, Director of the firm of Kalle & Co, Wiesbaden, and Privatdozent at the Technical High School, Stuttgart; his mother was Anna Herdegen. He went to a primary school in Stuttgart, and later to the "humanistische Gymnasium" (grammar school with emphasis on the classics) in Wiesbaden, matriculating in 1899. He read chemistry and medicine simultaneously, first at the University of Lausanne and then at Marburg. He obtained his chemistry degree under T. Zincke at Marburg in 1904; two years later, in 1906, a licence for medicine was conferred on him at Munich. In 1908 he qualified for his M.D. under F. von Müller, also at Munich.

Fischer spent his first working years at the Second Medical Clinic in Munich and at the First Berlin Chemical Institute under Emil Fischer. He returned to Munich in 1911 and qualified as lecturer on internal medicine one year later. In 1913 he was appointed E.F. Weinland's successor at the Physiological Institute (O. Frank) in Munich, where he became a lecturer on physiology. In 1916 Fischer followed the invitation of the University of Innsbruck to succeed Windaus as Professor of Medical Chemistry; from there he went to the University of Vienna in 1918.

From April 1, 1921 until his death he held the position of Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Technische Hochschule (Technical University) in Munich, as successor to Wieland.

Fischer's scientific work was mostly concerned with the investigation of the constitutive properties of the pigments in blood, bile, and also leaves, as well as with the chemistry of pyrrole. The main reason for the latter investigation was the synthesis of these natural pyrrole pigments. Of special importance was his synthesis of bilirubin. His numerous papers were mostly published in Liebigs Annalen der Chemie and Hoppe-Seylers Zeitschrift für physiologische Chemie.

In recognition of his work in these fields, the title of a "Geheimer Regierungsrat" (Privy Councillor) was conferred upon Hans Fischer in 1925; in 1929 he was awarded the Liebig Memorial Medal; Harvard University bestowed the title of honorary doctor on him in 1936; he received the Davy Medal in 1937. Fischer received the greatest honour of all, the Nobel Prize for 1930, for his work on the chemistry of pyrrole and the synthesis of haemin. In 1935, Professor Fischer married Wiltrud Haufe.

He died on March 31, 1945 in Munich.

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