University of Innsbruck - Nobel Laureates

Nobel Laureates

• Hans Fischer, Chemist (born 1881 Höchst a. M., died 1945 Munich)

He was widely respected for his research on hemoglobin and chlorophyll, and on the synthesis of haemin. He also succeeded in explaining the constitution of chlorophyll. Fischer held chairs in Innsbruck (1916-18), Vienna (1918-21) and Munich (1921-1945). He won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1930.

• Victor Francis Hess, Physicist (born 1883 Schloß Waldstein, died 1964 Mt. Vernon, U.S.A.)

After studying in Graz he worked under Franz Exner at the Department of Physics in Vienna, becoming a Dozent in 1910 and an assistant at the new Institute of Radium Research. The discovery of cosmic radiation is particularly associated with him. Hess was appoined to Graz in 1920 and in 1931 to Innsbruck. In 1937 he returned to Graz but was forced to emigrate in 1938. He obtained a professorship at Fordham University in New York. He won the Nobel prize for Physics in 1936.

• Fritz Pregl, Physician and Chemist (born 1869 Laibach (Ljubljana), died 1930 Graz)

He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1923 for making important contributions to quantitative organic microanalysis, one of which was the improvement of the combustion train technique for elemental analysis. From 1913 on he was professor of Medical Chemistry in Innsbruck for three years.

• Adolf Windaus, Chemist (born 1876 Berlin, died 1959 Göttingen)

He won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1928 for his work on sterols and their relation to vitamins. He was at the University of Innsbruck from 1916 till 1918 at the Institute of Medical Chemistry.