Hans Ernst August Buchner (16 December 1850 – 5 April 1902) was a German

bacteriologist A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology— a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically Pathogenic bacteria, pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learnin ...

who was born and raised in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He was the older brother of

Eduard Buchner Eduard Buchner (; 20 May 1860 – 13 August 1917) was a German chemist and Zymurgy, zymologist, awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on fermentation (biochemistry), fermentation. Biography Early years Buchner was born in Mun ...

(1860–1917), winner of the 1907

Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...

Biography

He studied medicine in Munich and

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, earning his MD from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

in 1874. Afterwards he served as a physician in the

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

n Army. In 1880 he became a lecturer at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

, where in 1894 he succeeded Max von Pettenkofer (1818–1901) as professor and director of the institute of

hygiene Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

. Buchner, Hans Ernst August
@ NDB/ADB Deutsche Biographie At Munich, he was an associate of Max von Gruber (1853–1927). Hans Buchner was a pioneer in the field of

immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

. He was the first to discover a substance in

blood serum Serum () is the fluid and solvent component of blood which does not play a role in clotting. It may be defined as blood plasma without the clotting factors, or as blood with all cells and clotting factors removed. Serum contains all proteins ex ...

that was capable of destroying

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

. He called the substance "alexin", which was later named " complement" by

Paul Ehrlich Paul Ehrlich (; 14 March 1854 – 20 August 1915) was a Nobel Prize-winning German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology and antimicrobial chemotherapy. Among his foremost achievements were finding a cure fo ...

(1854–1915). In 1888 he introduced the pyrogallic method for cultivation of

anaerobic bacteria An anaerobic organism or anaerobe is any organism that does not require molecular oxygen for growth. It may react negatively or even die if free oxygen is present. In contrast, an aerobic organism (aerobe) is an organism that requires an oxygenat ...

. Along with Martin Hahn, he assisted his brother, Eduard Buchner, with the isolation of

zymase Zymase (also known as alcoholase) is an obsolete term for an enzyme complex that catalyzes the fermentation of sugar into ethanol and carbon dioxide. It occurs naturally in yeasts. Zymase activity varies among yeast strains. Zymase is also the ...

. Their findings were published in a 1903 treatise titled "''Die Zymasegärung''" (Zymase fermentation).

Selected writings

* ''Die ätiologische Therapie und Prophylaxe der Lungentuberculose''. (Aetiological therapy and prophylaxis involving

lung The lungs are the primary Organ (biology), organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the Vertebral column, backbone on either side of the heart. Their ...

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

); (1883) * ''Über die bakterientödtende Wirkung des zellenfreien Blutserums'' (On the bacteriological effects of cell-free

); (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.WorldCat Title
Die Zymasegärung

References

* "Parts of this article are based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia () is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on 16 March 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia edition (after the English Wikipedia). It has articles, ma ...

".
The Free Dictionary, Eduard Buchner

External links

A Simple Way of using Buchner's Method for the Cultivation of Anaërobic Bacteria
NCBI J Med Res. 1906 July; 15(1): 113–116.1 *

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

,
Experimental Transformation of a Living Organism
, 06 November 1880, p. 296 1850 births 1902 deaths German microbiologists German immunologists {{Germany-biologist-stub