Jan Zaleski (born 8 March 1869 in
Kalwaria near
Augustów
Augustów (; lt, Augustavas, formerly known in English as ''Augustovo'' or ''Augustowo'')" is a city in north-eastern Poland with 29,729 inhabitants as of December 2021. It lies on the Netta River and the Augustów Canal. It is situated in the ...
(modern-day Lithuania), in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
; died 22 August 1932 in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
,
Republic of Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
) was a Polish
biochemist
Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...
who made significant contributions to the understanding of blood chemistry.
Career
From 1904–1907, Zaleski was a lecturer at the
Agrarian University of Dublany, near Lviv. From 1907–1918, Zaleski worked at the
Medical Institute for Women in
Petrograd
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, starting out as a laboratory assistant and becoming Professor of General and Organic Chemistry in 1916. From 1922 until his death in 1932, Zaleski was Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Toxicology at
Warsaw University
The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...
. He became a member of the
Polish Academy of Learning
The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning ( pl, Polska Akademia Umiejętności), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of scien ...
in 1921.
Research
Between 1895 and 1901, Zaleski conducted research with
Marceli Nencki
Wilhelm Marceli Nencki (15 January 1847 in Boczki, Zduńska Wola County – 14 October 1901 in Saint Petersburg) was a Polish chemist and doctor.
Work
Nencki's main scientific interest concentrated on urea synthesis, the chemistry of purines a ...
on the
ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...
content of blood and on conversions of blood pigments. In 1907, Zaleski published an empirical formula of
mesoporphyrin. In 1924, he co-authored with Kazimierz Lindenfeld a method to obtain
hemin
Hemin (haemin; ferric chloride heme) is an iron-containing porphyrin with chlorine that can be formed from a heme group, such as heme B found in the hemoglobin of human blood.
Chemistry
Hemin is protoporphyrin IX containing a ferric iron (Fe3 ...
.
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaleski, Jan
Polish biochemists
Polish chemists
1869 births
1932 deaths
People from Congress Poland