Karl Johann Freudenberg (29 January 1886

Weinheim Weinheim (; pfl, Woinem) is a town with about 43,000 inhabitants in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, approximately north of Heidelberg and northeast of Mannheim. Weinheim is known as the "Zwei ...

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden ...

– 3 April 1983

) was a German

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 ...

who did early seminal work on the absolute configurations to carbohydrates, terpenes, and steroids, and on the structure of cellulose (first correct formula published, 1928) and other polysaccharides, and on the nature, structure, and biosynthesis of

lignin Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of most plants. Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidity ...

. The Research Institute for the Chemistry of Wood and Polysaccharides at the University of Heidelberg was created for him in the mid to late 1930s, and he led this until 1969.

Life

Freudenberg studied at

Bonn University The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

in 1904, and the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick Will ...

from 1907 to 1910, where he studied with

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 dra ...

. In July 1910, he married Doris Nieden; they had five children. His grandfather Carl Johann Freudenberg was a tanner and businessman, who in 1849, with Heinrich Christian Heintze, founded Freudenberg Group. Freudenberg was a professor at

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württe ...

in 1921, at

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

in 1922, at

Karlsruhe University The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in ...

from 1926 to 1956, and director of the Research Institute at the University of Heidelberg, noted above, from 1936 to 1969.

Works

*''Chemie der natürlichen Gerbstoffe'' (1920) tudies on tannins and their relations to catechins*''Stereochemie'' (1933) *''Tannin, Cellulose, Lignin'' (1933)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freudenberg, Karl 1886 births 1983 deaths 20th-century German chemists Foreign Members of the Royal Society People from Weinheim Karlsruhe Institute of Technology faculty Heidelberg University faculty Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences