Hans Ernst August Buchner

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Hans Ernst August Buchner (December 16, 1850 - April 5, 1902) was a German bacteriologist who was a native of Munich. He studied medicine in Munich and Leipzig, and afterwards served as a physician in the Bavarian Army. In 1880 be became a lecturer at the University of Munich, where he worked under Max von Pettenkofer (1818-1901) and was an associate to Max von Gruber (1853-1927). In Munich he was also director of the institute of hygiene. He was the older brother of Eduard Buchner (1860-1917), who won the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Hans Buchner was a pioneer in the field of immunology, and known for his extensive research involving anaerobic bacteria. He was the first to discover a substance in blood serum that was capable of destroying bacteria. He called the substance alexin, which was later named "complement" by Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915). With his brother Eduard, he was co-discoverer of the yeast enzyme zymase.

[edit] Selected Writings

• Die ätiologische Therapie und Prophylaxe der Lungentuberculose. (Aetiological Therapy and Prophylaxis concerning Lung Tuberculosis); ( 1883)
• Über die bakterientödtende Wirkung des zellenfreien Blutserums (Concerning the Bacteriological Effects of Cell-free Blood Serum}; (1889)

[edit] References

• This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia.
• The Free Dictionary, Eduard Buchner