Fischer, Emil Hermann

Fischer, Emil Hermann (1852-1919), German chemist and Nobel laureate, who made important contributions to the study of sugars. Fischer was born in Euskirchen and educated at the universities of Bonn and Strasbourg. He was a Professor of Chemistry at the universities of Munich (1879), Erlangen (1882), Würzburg (1885), and Berlin (1892). Fischer was the first to synthesize glucose and other simple sugars, and to determine the molecular structures of glucose and fructose. He was also the first to determine the formulae of many purine derivatives, such as uric acid, xanthine, and caffeine, and to hydrolyse the complex proteins into simple amino acids. For his work on sugars and purines, Fischer received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1902.