Title:

Hermann Otto Laurenz Fischer papers, circa 1920-1952 (bulk 1920-1932)

Creator/Contributor:

Fischer, Hermann Otto Laurenz, 1888-1960, creator

Consists primarily of dissertations and notebooks that appear to be from Fischer's students during his tenure as Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Berlin, from ca. 1920 to 1932. Most of the notebooks are labeled "Tagebuch," and appear to contain research notes. The collection also includes two folders of printed matter: one contains two copies of an article by Fischer and Carl Taube entitled "Über Glyoxal" ("On Glyoxal"), published in 1926 in Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft (Reports of the German Association of Chemists); the other contains a bound copy of an essay by Burckhardt Helferich entitled "Emil Fischer, sein Leben und seine wissenschaftlichen Leistungen" ("Emil Fischer, His Life and His Scientific Accomplishments"), with an inscription by Hermann Fischer dated 1952. Emil Fischer, a Nobel-Prize-winning chemist, was Hermann Fischer's father. In addition, the collection includes, as a separate volume, Fischer's copy of Die chemischen Laboratorien des Eidgenössischen Polytechnikums in Zürich (The Chemistry Laboratories of the State Polytechnic Institute in Zurich), edited by F. Bluntschli, G. Lasius, and Dr. G. Lunge, published in 1889.

Date:

1920 (issued)

Subject:

n-us-ca

Fischer, Hermann Otto Laurenz -- 1888-1960 -- Archives

Fischer, Emil -- 1852-1919

Biochemistry -- Research -- 20th century

Chemistry, Organic -- Research -- 20th century

Chemistry -- Research -- 20th century

COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.

Hermann Otto Laurenz Fischer papers, BANC MSS 2005/236 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

In German.

Related collection: Emil Fischer papers, 1876-1919 (BANC MSS 71/95 z).

Related collection: Emil Fischer papers : additions, 1876-1960 (BANC MSS 85/165 z).

Related collection: Max Bergmann collection of Emil Fischer papers, circa 1910-1920 (BANC MSS 2003/231 z).

Related collection: Emil Fischer collection of photographs (BANC PIC 1971.041--PIC).

Related collection: Portraits of scientists and men of note from the Emil Fischer papers (BANC PIC 1971.017--POR).

Hermann Otto Laurenz Fischer was born in 1888 in Würzburg, Bavaria. His father was Emil Fischer, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1902. Hermann Fischer was educated at the universities of Cambridge and Berlin, and received his doctorate in chemistry at Jena in 1912. During World War I he served in the German army's chemical warfare unit; his two older brothers died during the war, events which contributed to his father's suicide in 1919. Soon after the war Fischer was appointed Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Berlin. He remained there until 1932, when, troubled by the rise of Hitler, he took up a position as Professor of Chemistry at the Pharmaceutical Institute of Universität Basel in Switzerland. In 1937, he left Europe altogether, becoming Research Professor of Organic Chemistry in the Banting Institute of the University of Toronto. His final move was in 1948, when he joined the newly-established biochemistry department at the University of California, Berkeley, where he would remain until his retirement in 1957. He continued to be active in research until his death on March 9, 1960. According to a University of California obituary, Fischer's outstanding research accomplishments include "the preparation by chemical means of a number of phosphorylated sugars which have been shown to be intermediates in the metabolism of carbohydrates. One of these, glyceraldehyde phosphate, a key compound in the reactions involving the chemistry of respiration and fermentation, is known as the 'Fischer ester.' He also pioneered studies on the synthesis of phospholipids and on the determination of structure and configuration of the inositols" (University of California: In Memoriam, April 1961).

Type:

Faculty papers.

print

1 carton, 2 v. (1.25 linear feet)

German

Origin:

California

COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.