Hans Fischer

Born 27 July 1881 in Germany, Fischer trained as an organic chemist and turned his attention to the molecules that make life's color and function possible. His painstaking work unraveled the structure of haemin, the iron-bearing core of hemoglobin, and chlorophyll, the green engine of photosynthesis. In 1929 he synthesized haemin in the laboratory, proving his structural model and earning the 1930 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. He continued refining the chemistry of these pigments through the war years. Fischer died 31 March 1945.