Gerardus Johannes Mulder or Gerrit Jan Mulder (27 December 1802 – 18 April 1880) was a Dutch

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

and

analytical chemist Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separa ...

Life

Mulder was born in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

and earned a medical degree from

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

. He became a reader of chemistry in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

and in 1840 he was appointed

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Protein

Following a suggestion by

Jöns Jacob Berzelius Baron Jöns Jacob Berzelius (; 20 August 1779 – 7 August 1848) was a Swedish chemist. Berzelius is considered, along with Robert Boyle, John Dalton, and Antoine Lavoisier, to be one of the founders of modern chemistry. Berzelius became a memb ...

, Mulder used the term protein in his 1838 paper, "On the composition of some animal substances" (originally in French but translated in 1839 to German). In the same publication, he also proposed that animals draw most of their protein from plants.Bulletin des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles en Néerlande (1838). pg 104
SUR LA COMPOSITION DE QUELQUES SUBSTANCES ANIMALES
/ref> Mulder "was the first to propose a theory concerning the causes of the differences between

albumin Albumin is a family of globular proteins, the most common of which are the serum albumins. All of the proteins of the albumin family are water- soluble, moderately soluble in concentrated salt solutions, and experience heat denaturation. Alb ...

casein Casein ( , from Latin ''caseus'' "cheese") is a family of related phosphoproteins (CSN1S1, αS1, aS2, CSN2, β, K-casein, κ) that are commonly found in mammalian milk, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 60% of ...

, and

fibrin Fibrin (also called Factor Ia) is a fibrous protein, fibrous, non-globular protein involved in the Coagulation, clotting of blood. It is formed by the action of the protease thrombin on fibrinogen, which causes it to polymerization, polymerize. ...

, and other substances more or less similar to them in physical properties and in their chemical behavior when exposed to reagents. Analyses of these substances showed that their percentage contribution with respect to carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen were so similar as to suggest that they contain one common radical." This radical, a

macromolecule A macromolecule is a "molecule of high relative molecular mass, the structure of which essentially comprises the multiple repetition of units derived, actually or conceptually, from molecules of low relative molecular mass." Polymers are physi ...

, had formula C20 H31 N5 O12 , and was known as ''protein''. The variations in albuminous substances were attributed to peripheral bonds of protein to sulfur and/or phosphorus.

Justus Liebig Justus ''Freiherr'' von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 18 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to the theory, practice, and pedagogy of chemistry, as well as to agricultural and biological chemistry; he is considered one of ...

and his students sought to determine the structure of proteins, but until the methods of

Emil Fischer Hermann Emil Louis Fischer (; 9 October 1852 – 15 July 1919) was a German chemist and List of Nobel laureates in Chemistry, 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He also developed the Fisch ...

and

Franz Hofmeister Franz Hofmeister (30 August 1850, in Prague – 26 July 1922, in Würzburg) was an early protein scientist, and is famous for his studies of salts that influence the solubility and conformational stability of proteins. In 1902, Hofmeister became t ...

became available, the

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

decompositions were unknown.

Augustus Voelcker John Christopher Augustus Voelcker FRS (24 September 1822 – 5 December 1884) was a Royal Agricultural Society of England chemist. Voelcker was known for his methodical and precise analytical practices as applied to agricultural chemistry. He ...

was Mulder's assistant for a year from 1846. In 1850, Mulder was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

. He died in

Bennekom Bennekom is a village and parish in the Netherlands, which is part of the Municipality of Ede in the south-west of the Veluwe district of the Gelderland, Province of Gelderland. It adjoins the town of Wageningen on the Nederrijn, Lower-Rhine to th ...

References

* Ihde, Aaron (1964) ''The Development of Modern Chemistry'', Harper and Row, pages 359 and 423–424.

External links

On the composition of some animal substances
Translation of parts of Mulder's article from:

Mikulás Teich Saint Nicholas is a legendary figure in European folklore based on the Greek early Christian bishop Nicholas of Myra, patron saint of children. On Saint Nicholas Day, children wait for Saint Nicholas to come and put a present under their pillow or ...

, ''A Documentary History of Biochemistry'', 1770-1940 (Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1992)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulder, Gerardus 1802 births 1880 deaths Scientists from Utrecht (city) Dutch organic chemists Dutch biochemists Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Academic staff of Utrecht University