Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin (15 February 1873 – 6 November 1964
) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
-born
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
biochemist. He won the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
in 1929 with
Arthur Harden
Sir Arthur Harden, FRS (12 October 1865 – 17 June 1940) was a British biochemist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1929 with Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin for their investigations into the fermentation of sugar and ferment ...
for their investigations on the
fermentation of sugar and
enzymes. He was a professor of general and
organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, ...
at
Stockholm University (1906–1941) and the director of its Institute for organic-chemical research (1938–1948). Euler-Chelpin was distantly related to
Leonhard Euler
Leonhard Euler ( , ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in ma ...
. He married chemist
Astrid Cleve
Astrid Maria Cleve von Euler (22 January 1875 – 8 April 1968) was a Swedish botanist, geologist, chemist and researcher at Uppsala University. She was the first woman in Sweden to obtain a doctoral degree of science.
Life
Astrid Maria Cleve w ...
, the daughter of the
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Located north of the c ...
chemist
Per Teodor Cleve
Per Teodor Cleve (10 February 1840 – 18 June 1905) was a Swedish chemist, biologist, mineralogist and oceanographer. He is best known for his discovery of the chemical elements holmium and thulium.
Born in Stockholm in 1840, Cleve earned his B ...
. In 1970, their son
Ulf von Euler
Ulf Svante von Euler (7 February 1905 – 9 March 1983) was a Swedish physiologist and pharmacologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 for his work on neurotransmitters.
Life
Ulf Svante von Euler-Chelpin was born in ...
, was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...
.
Personal life
von Euler-Chelpin was born on 15 February 1873 at Augsburg, Germany to Rigas Georg Sebastian von Euler-Chelpin and Gabriele von Euler-Chelpin (née Furtner). His father was a captain in the Royal Bavarian Regiment, who was soon transferred to
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
. During his childhood, he spent most of his time with his grandmother at
Wasserburg am Inn
Wasserburg am Inn (Central Bavarian: ''Wassabuag am Inn'') is a town in Rosenheim district in Upper Bavaria, Germany. The historic centre is a peninsula formed by the meandering river Inn. Many Medieval structures remain intact, giving the city ...
. He went to the Royal Junior High School in Augsburg (predecessor of Holbein Gymnasium ), also in
Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg ...
and
Ulm
Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...
. After serving as a one-year volunteer in the Bavarian first Field Artillery Regiment, he took interest in the color theory and began studying art at the Munich Academy of Painting (1891–1893). He was taught under Schmid-Reutte and
Lenbach, a German painter of realist style. He thereafter went to attend the University of Berlin to study chemistry under
Emil Fischer
Hermann Emil Louis Fischer (; 9 October 1852 – 15 July 1919) was a German chemist and 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He also developed the Fischer projection, a symbolic way of draw ...
and A. Rosenheim, and physics under
E. Warburg and
Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...
; where in 1895 he received his doctorate.
[
In 1899 von Euler-Chelpin was appointed to teach as Privatdozent in the Royal University at Stockholm where he began visiting the laboratory of ]van 't Hoff Van 't Hof and Van 't Hoff are Dutch toponymic surnames meaning "from the homestead". Other variants are ''Van Hoff'', ''Van den Hof'', ''Van der Hoff'', ''Van't Hof'' and ''Vanthof''. Notable people with these surnames include:
;Van 't Hof / Van't ...
, one of the many who influenced Euler-Chelpin's interest in science along with Nernst
Walther Hermann Nernst (; 25 June 1864 – 18 November 1941) was a German chemist known for his work in thermodynamics, physical chemistry, electrochemistry, and solid state physics. His formulation of the Nernst heat theorem helped pave the w ...
.[
In 1902 he took Swedish citizenship. Nevertheless, during the First World War, von Euler-Chelpin took part in voluntary service in the German Air Force. During the Second World War, he worked in a diplomatic mission on the German side.
In 1906 he was appointed Professor of General and ]Organic Chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, ...
in the Royal University, Stockholm. In 1929, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the International Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation established in Stockholm the Vitamin Institute and Institute of Biochemistry, and Euler-Chelpin was appointed as its director. In 1941 he retired from teaching, but continued his research.[
Hans von Euler-Chelpin married twice. His first wife was ]Astrid Cleve
Astrid Maria Cleve von Euler (22 January 1875 – 8 April 1968) was a Swedish botanist, geologist, chemist and researcher at Uppsala University. She was the first woman in Sweden to obtain a doctoral degree of science.
Life
Astrid Maria Cleve w ...
, who was the first Swedish woman to obtain a doctoral degree of science. They had five children: Sten (1903–1991), Ulf Svante (1905–1983), Karin Maria (1907–2003), Hans Georg Rigas (1908–2003) and Birgit (1910–2000). In 1913 he married again to his second wife, Elisabeth "Beth" Baroness af Ugglas (1887–1973), whose participated in collaborations with Euler-Chelpin. They had four children: Rolf Sebastian Ugglas (1914–2005), Hans Roland Ugglas (1916–), Curt Leonhard Ugglas (1918–2001) and Johan Erik Ugglas "Jan" (1929–1954). His son, Ulf von Euler
Ulf Svante von Euler (7 February 1905 – 9 March 1983) was a Swedish physiologist and pharmacologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 for his work on neurotransmitters.
Life
Ulf Svante von Euler-Chelpin was born in ...
, was a well-known physiologist and in 1970 he received a Nobel Prize for his research on the chemical nature of norepinephrine
Norepinephrine (NE), also called noradrenaline (NA) or noradrenalin, is an organic chemical in the catecholamine family that functions in the brain and body as both a hormone and neurotransmitter. The name "noradrenaline" (from Latin '' ad' ...
on the synapses. In 1931, his daughter Karin von Euler-Chelpin married the writer Sven Stolpe and had four children with him (one of which was Lisette Schulman
Astrid Maria Elisabet "Lisette" Schulman (née Stolpe; 13 June 1951, Karlskoga – 19 February 2015) was a Swedish television host and politician.
She was born to Sven Stolpe, an author and Karin Stolpe (née von Euler-Chelpin), a daughter of Ge ...
).[
During his life, von Euler-Chelpin created a series of monographs such as ''Biochemistry of Tumours'', written in collaboration with Boleslaw Skarzynski, published in 1942 and the other entitled ''The Chemotherapy and Prophylaxis of Cancer'', published in 1962.
von Euler-Chelpin died in Stockholm on 6 November 1964, at the age of 91.][
]
Nobel Prize
In 1929, Euler-Chelpin and Arthur Harden received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for research on alcoholic fermentation of carbohydrates and the role of enzymes. Arthur Harden dealt only with the chemical effects of bacteria from 1903 with alcoholic fermentation. Harden discovered that the enzyme
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products ...
zymase
Zymase is an enzyme complex that catalyzes the fermentation of sugar into ethanol and carbon dioxide. It occurs naturally in yeasts. Zymase activity varies among yeast strains.
Zymase is also the brand name of the drug pancrelipase.
Cell-free ...
, discovered by Eduard Buchner
Eduard Buchner (; 20 May 1860 – 13 August 1917) was a German chemist and zymologist, awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on fermentation.
Biography
Early years
Buchner was born in Munich to a physician and Doctor Extraor ...
, only produces fermentation in interaction with the coenzyme
A cofactor is a non-protein chemical compound or metallic ion that is required for an enzyme's role as a catalyst (a catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction). Cofactors can be considered "helper molecules" that ass ...
cozymase. Euler-Chelpin, in turn, convincingly described what happens in sugar fermentation and the action of fermentation enzymes using physical chemistry. This explanation led to the understanding of the important processes taking place in the muscles for the supply of energy.[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Euler-Chelpin, Hans
1873 births
1964 deaths
Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Foreign Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Members of the Lincean Academy
Nobel laureates in Chemistry
Scientists from Augsburg
People from the Kingdom of Bavaria
Swedish biochemists
Swedish nobility
German people of Swiss descent
German emigrants to Sweden
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Stockholm University faculty
Swedish Nobel laureates
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin