Emil Christian Hansen in the lab by Frederik Riise

Emil Christian Hansen (8 May 1842 – 27 August 1909) was a Danish

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as ...

and fermentation physiologist. Born in

Ribe Ribe () is a town in south-west Jutland, Denmark, with a population of 8,257 (2022). It is the seat of the Diocese of Ribe covering southwestern Jutland. Until 1 January 2007, Ribe was the seat of both a surrounding municipality and county. It ...

, he financed his education by writing novels. He was awarded a gold medal in 1876 for an essay on

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately fr ...

, titled ''De danske Gjødningssvampe''. During his days as a university student in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

, he worked as an unpaid assistant to

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

Japetus Steenstrup Johannes Japetus Smith Steenstrup FRS(For) HFRSE (8 March 1813 – 20 June 1897) was a Danish zoologist, biologist, and professor. Life Born in Vang, Thy on 8 March 1813, he held a lectorate in mineralogy in Sorø until 1845 when he became ...

(1813–1897). In 1876, with Alfred Jørgensen (1848–1925), he published a Danish translation of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

’s " The Voyage of the Beagle"; ''Rejse om Jorden''. From 1879 to 1909, he was director of the physiological department at

Carlsberg Laboratory The Carlsberg Research Laboratory is a private scientific research center in Copenhagen, Denmark under the Carlsberg Group. It was founded in 1875 by J. C. Jacobsen, the founder of the Carlsberg brewery, with the purpose of advancing biochemica ...

. Hired by the

in 1879, he became the first to isolate a pure cell of yeast in 1883, and after combining it with a

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or do ...

y solution, produced more yeast than was in a yeast bank. It was named as ''

Saccharomyces carlsbergensis ''Saccharomyces pastorianus'' is a yeast used industrially for the production of lager beer, and was named in honour of Louis Pasteur by the German Max Reess in 1870. This yeast's complicated genome appears to be the result of hybridisatio ...

'' after the laboratory, and is the yeast from which are derived, all yeasts used in

lager beer Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storag ...

s. See

Fermentation Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food p ...

Yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

. Hansen is the

taxonomic authority In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

of the fungal genus ''Anixiopsis'' (1897) from the family

Onygenaceae The Onygenaceae are a family of fungi in the Ascomycota, class Eurotiomycetes. Genera These are the genera that are in the Onygenaceae, according to a 2021 review of fungal classification. Following the genus name is the taxonomic authority (tho ...

. He was honoured in 1911, when botanist H. Zikes published '' Hanseniaspora'', which is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

yeasts Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitut ...

Publications by Hansen that have been translated into English

Practical studies in fermentation: being contributions to the life history of micro-organisms, 1896.
* Considerations on Technical Mycology, 1905.WorldCat Search
(publications)

Literature

* Claussen, Niels Hjelte ''Emil Christian Hansen'', pp. 161–164 in: Meisen, V. Prominent Danish Scientists through the Ages. University Library of Copenhagen 450th Anniversary. Levin & Munksgaard, Copenhagen (1932)
Beer in Health and Disease Prevention
edited by Victor R. Preedy

References

Danish physiologists Danish mycologists Danish microbiologists 1842 births 1909 deaths Carlsberg Laboratory staff People from Ribe {{Mycologist-stub