Ernst Otto Fischer (; 10 November 1918 – 23 July 2007) was a German chemist who won the Nobel Prize for pioneering work in the area of

organometallic chemistry Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...

Early life

He was born in Solln, a borough of

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 ...

. His parents were Karl T. Fischer, Professor of Physics at the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

(TU), and Valentine née Danzer. He graduated in 1937 with ''Abitur''. Before the completion of two years'

compulsory military service Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...

, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out, and he served in Poland, France, and Russia. During a period of study leave, towards the end of 1941 he began to study chemistry at the

. Following the end of the War, he was released by the Americans in the autumn of 1945 and resumed his studies.

Training

Fischer graduated from TUM in 1949. He then started his doctoral thesis as an assistant to Professor

Walter Hieber Walter Hieber (18 December 1895 – 29 November 1976) was an inorganic chemist, known as the father of metal carbonyl chemistry. He was born 18 December 1895 and died 29 November 1976. Hieber's father was Johannes Hieber, an influential evange ...

in the

Inorganic Chemistry Inorganic chemistry deals with chemical synthesis, synthesis and behavior of inorganic compound, inorganic and organometallic chemistry, organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subj ...

Institute, His thesis was entitled "The Mechanisms of Carbon Monoxide Reactions of Nickel(II) Salts in the Presence of Dithionites and Sulfoxylates".

Research career

After receiving his doctorate in 1952, he remained at TU. He continued his research on the

of the

transition metal In chemistry, a transition metal (or transition element) is a chemical element in the d-block of the periodic table (groups 3 to 12), though the elements of group 12 (and less often group 3) are sometimes excluded. The lanthanide and actinid ...

. He almost immediately challenged the structure for ferrocene as postulated by Pauson and Keally. Shortly thereafter, he published the structural data of

ferrocene Ferrocene is an organometallic chemistry, organometallic compound with the formula . The molecule is a Cyclopentadienyl complex, complex consisting of two Cyclopentadienyl anion, cyclopentadienyl rings sandwiching a central iron atom. It is an o ...

and the new complexes

nickelocene Nickelocene is the organonickel compound with the formula Ni( ''η''5-C5H5)2. Also known as bis(cyclopentadienyl)nickel or NiCp2, this bright green paramagnetic solid is of enduring academic interest, although it does not yet have any known pra ...

and

cobaltocene Cobaltocene, known also as bis(cyclopentadienyl)cobalt(II) or even "bis Cp cobalt", is an organocobalt compound with the formula Co(C5H5)2. It is a dark purple solid that sublimes readily slightly above room temperature. Cobaltocene was discover ...

. Near the same time, he focused also on the then baffling chemistry resulting from Hein's reactions of chromium(III) chloride with

phenylmagnesium bromide Phenylmagnesium bromide, with the simplified formula , is a magnesium-containing organometallic compound. It forms colorless crystals. It is commercially available as a solution in diethyl ether or tetrahydrofuran (THF). Phenylmagnesium bromide i ...

. This effort resulted in his isolation of

bis(benzene)chromium Bis(benzene)chromium is the organometallic compound with the formula . It is sometimes called dibenzenechromium. The compound played an important role in the development of sandwich compounds in organometallic chemistry and is the prototypical co ...

, foretelling an entirely new class of sandwich complexes.

Professional advances and recognition

He was appointed a lecturer at the TU in 1955 and, in 1957, professor and then, in 1959, C4 professor. In 1964 he took the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at the TU. In 1964, he was elected a member of the Mathematics/Natural Science section of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. In 1969 he was appointed a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists, Leopoldina and in 1972 was given an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy of the University of Munich. He lectured across the world on metal complexes of

cyclopentadienyl Cyclopentadienyl can refer to * Cyclopentadienyl anion, or cyclopentadienide, ** Cyclopentadienyl ligand * Cyclopentadienyl radical, • * Cyclopentadienyl cation, See also * Pentadienyl {{Chemistry index ...

, indenyl, arenes, olefins, and metal carbonyls. In the 1960s his group discovered a metal alkylidene and alkylidyne complexes, since referred to as

Fischer carbene A Fischer carbene is a type of transition metal carbene complex, which is an organometallic compound containing a divalent organic ligand. In a Fischer carbene, the carbene ligand is a σ-donor π-acceptor ligand. Because π-backdonation from the ...

s and Fischer-

carbyne In organic chemistry, a carbyne is a general term for any compound whose structure consists of an electrically neutral carbon atom connected by a single covalent bond and has three non-bonded electrons. The carbon atom has either one or three ...

s. Overall he published about 450 journal articles and he trained many PhD and postdoctoral students, many of whom went on to noteworthy careers. Among his many foreign lectureships, he was Firestone Lecturer at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

(1969), visiting professor at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

(1971), and

Arthur D. Little Arthur D. Little is an international management consulting firm originally headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1886 and formally incorporated in 1909 by Arthur Dehon Little, an MIT chemist who extended the applicatio ...

visiting professor at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(1973). He has received many awards including, in 1973 with

Geoffrey Wilkinson Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson FRS (14 July 1921 – 26 September 1996) was a Nobel laureate English chemist who pioneered inorganic chemistry and homogeneous transition metal catalysis. Education and early life Wilkinson was born at Springside, Todm ...

, the

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 ...

for his work on

organometallic compound Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and ...

Death

He died on 23 July 2007 in Munich.derStandard.at
/ref> At the time of his death, Fischer was the oldest living German Nobel laureate. He was succeeded by

Manfred Eigen Manfred Eigen (; 9 May 1927 – 6 February 2019) was a German biophysical chemist who won the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on measuring fast chemical reactions. Eigen's research helped solve major problems in physical chemistry and ...

, who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967 and is nine years younger than Fischer was.

References

*C. Elschenbroich, A. Salzer ”Organometallics : A Concise Introduction” (2nd Ed) (1992) from Wiley-VCH: Weinheim. * * *

External links

* including the Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1973 ''On the Road to Carbene and Carbyne Complexes'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Ernst Otto 1918 births 2007 deaths Inorganic chemists 20th-century German chemists Nobel laureates in Chemistry German Nobel laureates Technical University of Munich alumni Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities