Kurt Alder (; 10 July 1902 – 20 June 1958) 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 t ...
and
Nobel laureate.
Biography
Alder was born in the industrial area of
Königshütte,
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
(modern day
Chorzów,
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...
,
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 populou ...
), where he received his early schooling. Alder left the area when Königshütte became part of Poland in 1922. He studied chemistry at the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
from 1922, and later at the
University of Kiel
Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...
where his
PhD was awarded in 1926 for work supervised by
Otto Paul Hermann Diels
Otto Paul Hermann Diels (; 23 January 1876 – 7 March 1954) was a German chemist. His most notable work was done with Kurt Alder on the Diels–Alder reaction, a method for diene synthesis. The pair was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistr ...
.
In 1930 Alder was appointed reader for chemistry at
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...
, and promoted to lecturer in 1934. In 1936 he left Kiel to join
I G Farben Industrie at
Leverkusen
Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf.
With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is o ...
, where he worked on
synthetic rubber. Then in 1940 he was appointed Professor of Experimental Chemistry and Chemical Technology at the
University of Cologne
The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...
and Director of the Institute of Chemistry there. Throughout this time and despite the many obstacles to original research in Europe at the time, he continued a systematic program of investigations of his particular interests in the
synthesis of
organic compound
In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. T ...
s. In all he published more than 151 papers in this field.
In 1945 he worked closely with the inventor of
EDTA
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) is an aminopolycarboxylic acid with the formula H2N(CH2CO2H)2sub>2. This white, water-soluble solid is widely used to bind to iron (Fe2+/Fe3+) and calcium ions (Ca2+), forming water-soluble complexes ev ...
,
Ferdinand Münz
Ferdinand Münz (1888-1969) was an Austrian chemist who first synthesized EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) at the IG Farben in 1935, patented both in Germany (anonymously) and in the USA (with his name), with the aim of producing a citric a ...
. In 1949 they published a paper together on
diene
In organic chemistry a diene ( ) (diolefin ( ) or alkadiene) is a covalent compound that contains two double bonds, usually among carbon atoms. They thus contain two alk''ene'' units, with the standard prefix ''di'' of systematic nomenclature. ...
synthesis and additions
Alder received several honorary degrees and other awards, such as the 1950 Nobel Prize in Chemistry which he shared with his teacher Diels for their work on what is now known as the
Diels–Alder reaction. The
lunar
Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon".
Lunar may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games
* "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta
* "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...
crater Alder
Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...
is named in his honour. The insecticide
aldrin
Aldrin is an organochlorine insecticide that was widely used until the 1990s, when it was banned in most countries. Aldrin is a member of the so-called "classic organochlorines" (COC) group of pesticides. COCs enjoyed a very sharp rise in popular ...
, created through a Diels–Alder reaction, is also named after the scientist.
Alder died in June 1958, aged 55. The cause of his death is unknown,
however his body was found in his apartment in
Cologne, Germany
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...
after two weeks. His niece, who found the body, stated that the odor of rotting flesh was so bad that she could smell it from the street outside.
Gertrud Alder reported that her husband was incredibly distressed when she last saw him and often muttered the phrase "''Les Jardins du Souvenir''" (The Memory Garden) whilst writing out his research notes.
References
*
*
External links
* including the Nobel Lecture on December 12, 1950 ''Diene Synthesis and Related Reaction Types''
English Translation of Diels and Alder's seminal 1928 German article that won them the Nobel prize. English title: 'Syntheses of the hydroaromatic series'; German title "Synthesen in der hydroaromatischen Reihe".
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alder, Kurt
Organic chemists
20th-century German chemists
People from the Province of Silesia
German Nobel laureates
Nobel laureates in Chemistry
People from Chorzów
University of Kiel alumni
University of Kiel faculty
University of Cologne faculty
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
1902 births
1958 deaths