German Winners of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry

Felix Hoffmann

Felix Hoffmann was born on February 20, 1868, in Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany. He was a German pharmaceutical chemist who first synthesized aspirin in 1897. He graduated from the University of Munich and worked for Bayer, where he invented Aspirin. He died on October 7, 1935, in Leverkusen.

Ernst Fischer

Ernst Fischer was born on July 15, 1884 in Liebau, Silesia. He was a German chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1931 for work on the synthesis of amino acids and peptides. After studying at Breslau and Berlin, he did research in chemistry at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin from 1908 to 1910. Thereafter, he worked in Breslau, Brünn (Brno), and Berlin again. In 1929, Fischer succeeded Richard Kuhn as professor of chemistry at the University of Berlin. He died on April 18, 1971, in Berlin, Germany.

Gerhard Ertl

Gerhard Ertl was born on October 5, 1930, in Weiden, Bavaria, Germany. He is a German chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2007 for his studies of the way the environment controls the way molecules react. Ertl studied chemistry at the Technical University of Munich and completed his doctorate in 1960. He then worked as a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim/Ruhr and then as a professor of chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe. He became a professor of physical chemistry at the University of Heidelberg in 1973, and then became director of the Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry in 1987. He retired in 2004 and currently lives in Bad Krozingen. He received the Nobel Prize in 2007, shared with fellow German chemist Gerhard Herzberg.

Hans Fischer

Hans Fischer was born on March 12, 1889, in Breslau, Silesia, Germany. He was a German chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1930 for his work on the synthesis of amino acids and peptides. He completed his doctorate in 1910 and then worked at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin from 1911 to 1913. From 1913 to 1914, Fischer was head of a chemical laboratory in Breslau. During World War I, he served as a medical orderly and, subsequently, as a laboratory assistant at the Breslau Army Medical Academy. After the war, Fischer went to Strasbourg, where he worked until 1922. From 1922 to 1926, he was a professor of chemistry at the University of Berlin. In 1926, Fischer became a professor at the University of Göttingen, where he remained until his death.

Manfred Eigen

Manfred Eigen was born on May 19, 1931 in Breslau, Silesia, Germany, now renamed Wrocław, Poland. He is a German biophysical chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967 for his work on the determination of molecular structures by electron microscopy. After completing his doctorate at the University of Göttingen, he worked for several years for the Institute for Fermentation (at the University of Berlin). In 1959, he became a research director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics in Frankfurt am Main and, in 1962, a professor at the University of Goettingen. In 1978, Eigen moved to the Institute for Physical Chemistry at the University of Frankfurt am Main, where he served as the director from 1982 to 1987.

Rudolf Möllring

Rudolf Möllring was born on May 9, 1920 in Beetzendorf, Silesia, Germany (now Pszczelow, Poland). He was a German biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1984 “for his work on the biosynthesis of amino acids.” He studied chemistry and biology at the Universities of Breslau, Berlin and Munich and received his Diploma in 1943. From 1943 to 1945, he worked as a research assistant at the University of Breslau. After World War II, Möllring worked as a research assistant at the University of Giessen and at the Institut für Biologische Forschung (Institute for Biological Research) in Hohenbrunn. In 1948, he was appointed Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Göttingen. He became Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen in 1957, and in 1967, he was appointed Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen. Möllring died on October 4, 2010.

Walther Köhn

Walther Köhn was born on February 17, 1877, in Essen, Germany. He was a German chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1941 for his work in the field of sugar chemistry. He studied at the Universities of Berlin, Munich and Freiburg and received his PhD in 1900. From 1914-1919 he worked as a professor at the University of Jena. After that, he became a professor at the University of Göttingen until he retired in 1937. He died on October 20, 1944, in Berlin. He was also the first person to synthesize D-arabinitol.

Helmut Müller

Helmut Müller was born on June 20, 1917 in Berlin, Germany. He was a German chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964 for his work in the field of chemical kinetics. He studied at the Universities of Berlin, Munich and Basel. Müller received his Ph.D. in 1943. From 1944 to 1945 he worked as a laboratory assistant at the University of Basel. In 1945 he became a professor at the University of Tübingen and worked at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Göttingen. In 1952 he became a professor at the University of Tübingen and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen. Müller died on October 26, 1984 in Göttingen.