Gustaf Komppa

Gustaf Komppa (1867 in Viipuri – 20 January 1949 in Helsinki) was a Finnish chemist best known for a world-first in commercializing total synthesis, that of camphor in 1903.

Komppa was born in Viipuri in 1867. He graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1891 and subsequently worked for a while in Switzerland before obtaining his Ph.D. Shortly after returning to Finland he became the professor of chemistry at the Helsinki University of Technology. He was also a board member in several major Finnish corporations and a founding member of Finnish Academy of Science. Universities of Uppsala, Copenhagen and Heidelberg invited him as a honorary doctor.

Komppa worked extensively with organic synthesis of several compounds, most notably camphor and terpenoids. The camphor synthesis was an important breakthrough, especially because he proceeded to commercialize a semisynthesis from tall oil-derived pinene. He also developed methods for converting peat into fuel. During his career Komppa published more than 200 research papers.

References

Article about Komppa (in Finnish)