Fischer, Hans (1881-1945), a German biochemist, received the 1930 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on the composition of the coloring matter in leaves and blood. He isolated hemin from bile pigments. Hemin is a chemical compound contained in hemoglobin, the substance that makes blood red. Fischer synthesized hemin from other substances in 1928. He also helped identify the structure of chlorophyll, the substance that makes plants green.
Fischer was born on July 27, 1881, at Höchst, now a part of Frankfurt, Germany. He studied at Marburg and Munich universities, earning a doctorate in chemistry and also a degree in medicine. Fischer’s laboratory was destroyed in air raids near the end of World War II (1939-1945). Upset that his life’s work was destroyed, Fischer took his own life on March 31, 1945.
