Willstatter, << VIHL shteht uhr, >> Richard Martin (1872-1942), a German chemist, carried out research into the structure of pigments in plants and, in 1905, began his research into chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants that absorbs light energy. His research also covered photosynthesis (the process by which plants convert light into chemical energy). Willstatter was awarded the 1915 Nobel Prize for chemistry.
In 1890, Willstatter went to the University of Munich, where he studied alkaloids, a group of alkaline substances containing nitrogen (see Alkaloid ). His doctoral research focused on the structure of cocaine, a powerful drug made from the leaves of the coca shrub. He remained at the university for 15 years from 1896 as a lecturer.
After the end of World War I (1914-1918), he studied enzymes (substances that speed up chemical reactions in living organisms). He proved that they were chemical substances rather than biological organisms. His investigations into the enzymes involved in photosynthesis provided the basis for much modern biochemistry.
Willstatter was born in Karslruhe, Germany. He taught at the University of Berlin from 1912 to 1916, when he returned to Munich. In 1924, Willstatter, who was Jewish, resigned from his post at Munich University in the face of anti-Semitic pressure. In 1939, he moved to Locarno, Switzerland, where he wrote his autobiography, Aus meinem Leben (From My Life, published in 1949, after his death).
