Biographies | Chemists of the world

Emil Abderhalden

-Emil Abderhalden (March 9, 1877 - August 5, 1950) was a Swiss biochemist and physiologist. He was born in Oberuzwil in the Canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Emil Abderhalden studied medicine at the University of Basel and received his doctorate in 1902. He then studied in the laboratory of Emil Fischer and worked at the University of Berlin. In 1911 he moved to the University of Halle and taught physiology in the medical school. From 1931 to 1950, he was president of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina.

During World War I, he established a children's hospital and organized the removal of malnourished children to Switzerland. Subsequently, he resumed his research into physiological chemistry and began to study metabolism and food chemistry. After World War II Abderhalden returned to Switzerland and a position at the University of Zurich. He died there at age 73.