Hugo Schiff

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Hugo (Ugo) Schiff (26 April 1834 – 8 September 1915) was a German Chemist [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. He discovered Schiff bases and other imines, and was responsible for research into aldehydes and had the Schiff test named after him. He also worked in the field of amino acids and the Biuret reagent.

Born in Frankfurt am Main, Schiff was a student of Friedrich Wöhler in Göttingen. He completed his dissertation (Uber einige Naphtyl- und Phenyl-derivate) also supervised by Wöhler in 1857. In the same year, due to political turmoil, Schiff left Germany in 1857 for Switzerland and the University of Bern [6]. He was a supporter of socialism and reportedly corresponded with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He also was a cofounder of the socialist Italian newspaper L'Avanti in 1894.

Schiff moved to Italy in 1863 holding positions in Pisa and then Florence (Museo di Storia Naturale). In 1870 he cofounded the Gazzetta Chimica Italiana together with Stanislao Cannizzaro. In 1877 he became Professor of General Chemistry in Turin and returned to Florence in 1879 as Professor of General Chemistry at what later would become the University of Florence where he founded the Chemical Institute of the University of Florence. Schiff died in Florence.

In the University of Florence the Hugo Schiff International Store House still exists today.

[edit] References

  1. ^ This article is largely a translation from the German Wikipedia article. These references are taken from there.
  2. ^ Introduzione allo studio della chimica, series of Schiff's lessons at the Museo di Scienze Naturali, Edizioni Loescher, Torino, 1876.
  3. ^ Einführung in das Studium der Chemie, Prof. Hugo Schiff, Ed. Verlag von Theobald Grieben, Berlin, 1876.
  4. ^ Untersuchungen über Metallhaltige Anilinderivate und über die Bildung des Anilinroths, Hugo Schiff, Ed. Verlag von J. Springer, Berlin, 1864
  5. ^ Notes from Schiff's lessons compiled by his pupil Andrea Torricelli, Voll. I - II, 1897.
  6. ^ Hugo (Ugo) Schiff, Schiff Bases, and a Century of b-Lactam Synthesis Thomas T. Tidwell Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 2–7 doi:10.1002/anie.200702965