Heinrich Hubert Maria Josef Houben (27 October 1875, in Waldfeucht (

Rheinland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy Roman Empire ...

)

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

– 28 June 1940, in Tübingen) was a German chemist. He made achievements within ketone synthesis,

terpene Terpenes () are a class of natural products consisting of compounds with the formula (C5H8)n for n ≥ 2. Terpenes are major biosynthetic building blocks. Comprising more than 30,000 compounds, these unsaturated hydrocarbons are produced predomi ...

s, and

camphor Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel (''Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the kapu ...

studies. After being wounded several times on the front lines in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Houben was made head of the war laboratory. He improved the Hoesch reaction which is now normally called Houben-Hoesch reaction. Houben organized and made a major rework of the book Methods of Organic Chemistry which is now referred to as Houben-Weyl Methods of Organic Chemistry.

Life

Houben studied at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

and changed his subjects from mathematics and astronomy to chemistry under the influence of

August Kekulé Friedrich August Kekulé, later Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz ( , ; 7 September 1829 – 13 July 1896), was a German organic chemist. From the 1850s until his death, Kekulé was one of the most prominent chemists in Europe, especially ...

. He received his Ph.D. for work with Julius Bredt in 1898, and they collaborated on the initial 1902 publication of what became known as

Bredt's Rule In organic chemistry, an anti-Bredt molecule is a Bridged compound, bridged molecule with a double bond at the Bicyclic molecule, bridgehead. Bredt's rule is the empirical observation that such molecules only form in large ring systems. For exam ...

. After some time at the

University of Aachen RWTH Aachen University (), in German ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study prog ...

and

Houben joined the laboratory 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 ...

at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

. After his habilitation in 1908 he stayed in Berlin until the beginning of

. Houben served in the army and after being wounded several times he became head of the war laboratory. After the war Houben became professor at the Biologische Reichsanstalt in Berlin Dahlem in 1921, a position he held until his forced retirement in 1933. Houben died in Tübingen in 1940.

Work

During his time with Emil Fischer his research was focused on the Organomagnesium compounds, while in his time at the Biologischen Reichsanstalt Houben was improving the already known Hoesch reaction.

References

External links

Biographies of Josef Houben and Theodor Weyl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houben, Heinrich Hubert Maria Josef 20th-century German chemists 1875 births 1940 deaths Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin People from Heinsberg (district)