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Richard Kuhn

 
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Richard Kuhn (December 3 1900 – August 1 1967) was an Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
n-German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 biochemist
Biochemistry

Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
 and Nobel laureate.

was born in Vienna
Vienna

Vienna is the Capital of Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million...
, Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
 where he attended grammar school and high school. His interest in chemistry surfaced early, however he was universally interested and decided late to study chemistry. Beginning in 1918 he attended lectures at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. Having opened in 1365, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe....
 in chemistry.






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Richard Kuhn (December 3 1900 – August 1 1967) was an Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
n-German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 biochemist
Biochemistry

Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
 and Nobel laureate.

Biography


Early life

Kuhn was born in Vienna
Vienna

Vienna is the Capital of Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million...
, Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
 where he attended grammar school and high school. His interest in chemistry surfaced early, however he was universally interested and decided late to study chemistry. Beginning in 1918 he attended lectures at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. Having opened in 1365, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe....
 in chemistry. He finished his chemistry studies at University of Munich and received his doctoral degree in 1922 with Richard Willstätter
Richard Willstätter

Richard Martin Willst?tter was a Germany organic chemist whose study of the structure of plant pigments, chlorophyll included, won him the 1915 Nobel Prize for Chemistry....
 for a scientific work on enzymes.

After graduating Kuhn continued his scientific career, first in Munich, then at the ETH Zurich
ETH Zurich

ETH Z?rich or Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Z?rich is a science and technology university in the Z?rich, Switzerland. Locals sometimes refer to it by the name Poly, derived from the original name Eidgen?ssisches Polytechnikum or Federal Polytechnic Institute....
 and from 1929 onwards at the University of Heidelberg, where he was head of the chemistry department beginning in 1937. In 1928 he married Daisy Hartmann and the couple subsequently had two sons and four daughters.

Research

Kuhn's areas of study included: investigations of theoretical problems of organic chemistry
Organic chemistry

Organic chemistry is a discipline within chemistry which involves the science study of the structure, properties, composition, chemical reaction, and preparation of chemical compounds that contain carbon....
 (stereochemistry
Stereochemistry

Stereochemistry, a subdiscipline of chemistry, involves the study of the relative spatial arrangement of atoms within molecules. An important branch of stereochemistry is the study of chirality molecules ....
 of aliphatic
Aliphatic compound

In organic chemistry, compounds composed of carbon and hydrogen are divided into two classes: aromatic compounds, which contain benzene rings or similar rings of atoms, and aliphatic compounds , which do not contain aromatic rings....
 and aromatic compounds
Aromaticity

Aromaticity is a chemical property in which a conjugated system ring of unsaturated bonds, lone pairs, or empty orbitals exhibit a stabilization stronger than would be expected by the stabilization of conjugation alone....
; syntheses of polyene
Polyene

Polyenes are poly-Saturation organic compounds that contain one or more sequences of alternating double and single carbon-carbon bonds. These double carbon-carbon bonds interact in a process known as Conjugated system, which results in an overall lower energy state of the molecule....
s and cumulene
Cumulene

A cumulene is a chemical compound with three or more cumulative covalent bond, for example butatriene , H2C=C=C=CH2. Unlike alkanes and most alkenes, cumulenes tend to be rigid, which makes them appealing for molecular nanotechnology....
s; constitution and colour; the acidity of hydrocarbon
Hydrocarbon

In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. With relation to chemical terminology, aromatic hydrocarbons or arenes, alkanes, alkenes and alkyne-based compounds composed entirely of carbon or hydrogen are referred to as "pure" hydrocarbons, whereas other hydrocarbons with bonded com...
s), as well as extensive fields in biochemistry
Biochemistry

Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
 (carotenoids; flavins; vitamins and enzymes). Specifically, he carried out important work on vitamin B2 and the antidermatitis vitamin B6.

In 1929 he became Principal of the Institute for Chemistry at the newly founded Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute

The Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft is a Germany entity formally known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur F?rderung der Wissenschaften e.V. ....
 (which, since 1950, has been renamed the Max Planck Institut for Medical Research in Heidelberg
Heidelberg

Heidelberg is a city in Baden-W?rttemberg, Germany. As of 2006, over 140,000 people live within the city's area. The town of Heidelberg is an administrative district of its own....
. By 1937 he also took over the administration of this Institute.

In addition to these duties he also served as of Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Heidelberg, and for one year he was at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States....
 as a Visiting Research Professor for Physiological chemistry
Physiological chemistry

Physiological chemistry is the chemistry of the organs and tissues of the body and of the various physiological processes incident to life. Physiological chemistry is essentially the precursor to modern biochemistry....
.

He was subsequently awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Pri...
 in 1938 for his "work on carotenoids and vitamins," but was unable to accept the award until after World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
. Kuhn is also credited with the discovery of the deadly nerve agent
Nerve agent

Nerve agents, also referred to as nerve gases though these chemicals are liquid at room temperature, are a class of phosphorus-containing organic chemistry that disrupt the mechanism by which nerves transfer messages to organs....
 Soman
Soman

Soman, also known by its NATO designation GD , is an extremely toxic chemical substance. It is a nerve agent, interfering with normal functioning of the mammalian nervous system by inhibiting the cholinesterase enzyme....
 in 1944.

It is also worth noting that for a period of eight years (1910-1918) Richard Kuhn was a schoolmate of Wolfgang Pauli
Wolfgang Pauli

Wolfgang Ernst Pauli was an Austrian theoretical physicist noted for his work on spin , and for the discovery of the Pauli exclusion principle underpinning the structure of matter and the whole of chemistry....
 who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Nobel Prize in literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine....
 for 1945.

Kuhn was also editor of Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie from 1948.

Kuhn died in 1967 in Heidelberg
Heidelberg

Heidelberg is a city in Baden-W?rttemberg, Germany. As of 2006, over 140,000 people live within the city's area. The town of Heidelberg is an administrative district of its own....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, aged 66.

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