Johann Florian Heller (4 May 1813 – 21 November 1871) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

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 ...

who was one of the founders of

clinical chemistry Clinical chemistry (also known as chemical pathology, clinical biochemistry or medical biochemistry) is the area of chemistry that is generally concerned with analysis of bodily fluids for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. It is an applied ...

. Heller was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria. He studied chemistry in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and later with

Liebig Justus Freiherr von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 20 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at t ...

and Wöhler at

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

. Louis Rosenfeld (1999), ''Four centuries of clinical chemistry''. CRC Press
Online version
accessed on 2009-07-30. Giuliano dall'Olio (2008), ''Nuovo componente dei calcoli vescicali — L’ “urostealite ” di Heller''. RIMeL - IJLaM, volume 4, issue 1, Società Italiana Medicina di Laboratorio. During those studies he characterized

rhodizonic acid Rhodizonic acid is a chemical compound with formula or . It can be seen as a twofold enol and fourfold ketone of cyclohexene, more precisely 5,6-dihydroxycyclohex-5-ene-1,2,3,4-tetrone. Rhodizonic acid is usually obtained in the form of a dihyd ...

and its

potassium Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosphe ...

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

(1837). Johann Florian Heller (1837), ''Die Rhodizonsäure, eine aus den Produkten der Kaliumbereitung gewonnene neue Säure, und ihre chemischen Verhältnisse'', Justus Liebigs Annalen der Pharmacie, volume 24, issue 1, pp. 1–16
Online version
accessed on 2009-07-08. In 1844 Heller established a laboratory of pathological chemistry in Vienna's General Hospital, but his appointment as head of the lab was delayed until 1855 because some of the faculty thought that the position should be occupied by a medical doctor. During that period he studied the chemistry of

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excretion, excreted from the body through the urethra. Cel ...

, and he developed the well-known Heller's ring test for

albumin Albumin is a family of globular proteins, the most common of which are the serum albumins. All the proteins of the albumin family are water-soluble, moderately soluble in concentrated salt solutions, and experience heat denaturation. Albumins ...

in the urine (1852). He also identified a fatty substance that he called

urostealith Urostealith is a fatty or resinous substance identified by the Austrian chemist J. F. Heller in 1845 as the main constituent of some bladder stones. Giuliano dall'Olio (2008), ''Nuovo componente dei calcoli vescicali — L’ “urostealite ” ...

, a constituent of certain

bladder stone A bladder stone is a stone found in the urinary bladder. Signs and symptoms Bladder stones are small mineral deposits that can form in the bladder. In most cases bladder stones develop when the urine becomes very concentrated or when one is d ...

s, and developed a treatment based on solutions of

sodium carbonate Sodium carbonate, , (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield moderately alkaline solutions ...

, which were found to dissolve the substance

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology an ...

(1845). Also in 1844, Heller took over editorship of the recently founded ''Archiv für Physiologische und Pathologische Chemie und Mikroskopie,'' the first journal to deal exclusively with pathological chemistry; which stopped publication after six volumes, for lack of articles. The Austrian Association for Clinical Chemistry (ÖGKC) awards a scientific prize named after him. An Austrian stamp was issued on 4 September 1981 with his portrait on the face.

References

External links

Portrait on the Austria 1981 issue for the 11th Congress on Chemical Clinic {{DEFAULTSORT:Heller 1813 births 1871 deaths Austrian chemists