Hans Ernst August Buchner

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Hans Buchner
Hans Ernst August Buchner
Born16 December 1850 (1850-12-16)
Died5 April 1902 (1902-04-06) (aged 51)
Alma materUniversity of Leipzig
Known forDiscovering complement
Work on Gamma globulin
Study of anaerobic organisms
Scientific career
InstitutionsMunich University

Hans Ernst August Buchner (16 December 1850 – 5 April 1902) was a German bacteriologist who was born and raised in Munich. He was the older brother of Eduard Buchner (1860–1917), winner of the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Biography[edit]

He studied medicine in Munich and Leipzig, earning his MD from the University of Leipzig in 1874. Afterwards he served as a physician in the Bavarian Army. In 1880 he became a lecturer at the University of Munich, where in 1894 he succeeded Max von Pettenkofer (1818–1901) as professor and director of the institute of hygiene.[1] At Munich, he was an associate of Max von Gruber (1853–1927).

Hans Buchner was a pioneer in the field of immunology. He was the first to discover a substance in blood serum that was capable of destroying bacteria. He called the substance "alexin", which was later named "complement" by Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915).[1]

In 1888 he introduced the pyrogallic method for cultivation of anaerobic bacteria.[2][3] Along with Martin Hahn, he assisted his brother, Eduard Buchner, with the isolation of zymase. Their findings were published in a 1903 treatise titled "Die Zymasegärung" (Zymase fermentation).[4]

Selected writings[edit]

  • Die ätiologische Therapie und Prophylaxe der Lungentuberculose. (Aetiological therapy and prophylaxis involving lung tuberculosis); (1883)
  • Über die bakterientödtende Wirkung des zellenfreien Blutserums (On the bacteriological effects of cell-free blood serum); (1889)
  • Die Zymasegärung : Untersuchungen über den Inhalt der Hefezellen und die biologische Seite des Gärungsproblems (with Eduard Buchner and Martin Hahn, 1903) - Zymase fermentation : Studies on the content of yeast cells and the biological side of the fermentation problem.[5]

References[edit]

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