Herbert Lindlar-Wilson (15 March 1909 – 27 June 2009), better known as Herbert Lindlar, was a British-Swiss chemist. He is known in particular through the development of his catalyst for

hydrogenation Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to redox, reduce or Saturated ...

, as the Lindlar catalyst bears his name.

Biography

Lindlar was born in Sheffield, England in March 1909 and moved to Switzerland with his family in 1909. He studied chemistry at the

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

and the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

and graduated in 1939 with a thesis "about the behavior of

dicarboxylic acids In organic chemistry, a dicarboxylic acid is an organic compound containing two carboxyl groups (). The general molecular formula for dicarboxylic acids can be written as , where R can be aliphatic or Aromatic compound, aromatic.Boy Cornils, Peter ...

in the formation of ureides". He then joined the pharmaceutical company

Hoffmann-La Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Swiss multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on ...

. With the exception of one four-year hiatus, he worked for Hoffmann-La Roche until retirement in 1974. During these four years in Zurich and Basel, Lindlar worked as an English vice consul. He turned 100 in March 2009 and died in June.

References

External links

Baselland.ch
1909 births 2009 deaths Swiss men centenarians Swiss chemists British emigrants to Switzerland ETH Zurich alumni {{UK-chemist-stub