Ernst Späth (; 14 May 1886 in

Moravský Beroun Moravský Beroun (; german: Bärn) is a town in Olomouc District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,900 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Čabová, Ondrášov, Nové Valteřice and Sedm Dvorů are administrativ ...

– 30 September 1946 in Zurich) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

, specializing in

natural product A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical syn ...

Life

Späth was the first to synthesise

mescaline Mescaline or mescalin (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) is a naturally occurring psychedelic protoalkaloid of the substituted phenethylamine class, known for its hallucinogenic effects comparable to those of LSD and psilocybin. Biological sou ...

and was one of the first to synthesize

cuscohygrine Cuscohygrine is a pyrrolidine alkaloid found in coca. It can also be extracted from plants of the family Solanaceae, including ''Atropa belladonna'' (deadly nightshade), ''Datura innoxia'' and ''Datura stramonium'' (jimson weed). Cuscohygrine usua ...

on a small scale with

Hans Tuppy Hans Tuppy (born July 22, 1924) is an Austrian biochemist who participated in the sequencing of insulin, and became Austria's first university professor for biochemistry. He was Austrian Minister for Science and Research from 1987 to 1989. Fami ...

. He lost everything in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and died with no money. His former student

Percy Lavon Julian Percy Lavon Julian (April 11, 1899 – April 19, 1975) was an American research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. He was the first to synthesize the natural product physostigmine and was a pioneer in ...

returned to Vienna, paid for his funeral, and commissioned a bust of Späth, which is still displayed in the foyer of the ''Faculty of Chemistry'' of the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. A second cast of the bust was erected in 1961 in the ''Arkadenhof'' of the University of Vienna.

References

Biography

Publications

* Austrian chemists 1886 births 1946 deaths Moravian-German people Austrian people of Moravian-German descent Austrian expatriates in Switzerland People from Moravský Beroun 20th-century Austrian scientists 20th-century chemists {{Chemist-stub