Leopold Ružička facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Leopold Ružička
|
|
|---|---|
Ružićka in 1939
|
|
| Pronunciation |
|
| Born |
Lavoslav Stjepan Ružička
13 September 1887 Vukovar, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire (present-day Croatia)
|
| Died | 26 September 1976 (aged 89) Mammern, Switzerland
|
| Citizenship | Austri-Hungary (1887–1917) Switzerland (1917–1976) |
| Alma mater | Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe |
| Known for | Research on Terpenes |
| Awards | Marcel Benoist Prize (1938) Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1939) Faraday Lectureship Prize (1958) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry |
| Institutions | ETH Zurich, Utrecht University |
| Thesis | Über Phenylmethylketen (1911) |
| Doctoral advisor | Hermann Staudinger |
| Doctoral students | George Büchi Duilio Arigoni Arie Jan Haagen-Smit Moses Wolf Goldberg Klaus H. Hofmann George Rosenkranz Cyril A. Grob Edgar Heilbronner Albert Eschenmoser |
Leopold Ružička was a famous scientist. He was born in Croatia but later became a Swiss citizen. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939. He won it for his important work on special chemicals called polymethylenes and terpenes. He also created the first male hormones in a lab. Ružička received many awards and honorary degrees during his life.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Leopold Ružička was born in Vukovar, a city in what is now Croatia. At that time, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His family were mostly craftsmen and farmers. When he was four years old, his father passed away. His mother moved him and his younger brother to Osijek.
Ružička went to a classical secondary school in Osijek. He first thought about becoming a priest. But then he decided to study technical subjects instead. He chose chemistry, hoping to find a job at a new sugar factory in Osijek.
He later moved to Karlsruhe, Germany, to study at the High Technical School. He was a very good student in subjects he enjoyed, especially organic chemistry. He worked closely with his professor, Hermann Staudinger. Ružička earned his doctoral degree in 1910. After that, he moved to Zurich to work as Staudinger's assistant.
Research Career Highlights
Ružička spent his entire career studying natural compounds. These are chemicals found in plants and animals.
Early Discoveries
He first researched chemicals found in Pyrethrum, a plant used to make insecticide. He worked with Staudinger on these chemicals, called pyrethrins. Ružička later felt they were not on the right track with this research.
He then became interested in Terpineol, a fragrant oil from plants. This oil was important for the perfume industry. In 1917, he became a Swiss citizen.
Understanding Natural Scents
In Zurich, Ružička became a professor. With his students, he studied the chemicals that give musk and civet their strong scents. These scents come from animals like the musk deer and the civet cat. He found that these chemicals, called muscone and civetone, had very large rings of atoms. At that time, scientists only knew how to make rings with up to eight atoms. Ružička developed a new way to make these large rings. This method is now called the Ruzicka large ring synthesis. He used it to create civetone in his lab in 1927.
Work with Industry
Ružička worked with perfume companies like Chuit & Naef in Geneva. This helped him become financially independent. Later, he worked for CIBA in Basel. In 1927, he became a professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. After three years, he returned to Switzerland because its chemical industry was very advanced.
He was the first to make musk on a large scale for industry. This product was named Exaltone.
Hormone Research and Nobel Prize
In 1934, Ružička successfully created the male hormone androsterone in the lab. In 1935, he also made testosterone, another important male hormone. These discoveries made Switzerland a leader in the field of steroid hormones. His lab became a world center for organic chemistry.
In 1939, Ružička won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He shared the prize with Adolf Butenandt. Between 1934 and 1939, he published many papers on male hormones. He also filed several patents for his inventions.
Later Research and Retirement
During World War II, some of his team members left. But Ružička rebuilt his lab with new, young scientists. One of them was Vladimir Prelog, who also later won a Nobel Prize. Together, they started new research areas.
In 1946, Ružička and his colleague Lardon found that the scent of ambergris comes from a chemical called ambrein.
After 1950, Ružička focused on biochemistry. He studied how terpenes are made in living things. In 1953, he published his famous idea called the Biogenetic Isoprene Rule. This rule explains how the carbon parts of terpenes are built from smaller units. This was a major achievement in his scientific career. Ružička retired in 1957. He handed over his lab to Vladimir Prelog.
Later Life and Legacy
Ružička received eight honorary doctorates and many other awards. He wrote 583 scientific papers during his career. He was an honorary member of many chemical societies.
After World War II, he developed a love for Dutch paintings. He later donated his collection to the Kunsthaus Zürich museum. He also spoke out against nuclear weapons.
In 1970, Ružička gave a lecture at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. It was titled "Nobel Prizes and the chemistry of life." He also worked as a consultant for a company called Sandoz A. G.
Ružička cared a lot about education. He worked to improve scientific education in Yugoslavia and helped create the Swiss-Yugoslav Society. He became an honorary member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts.
The Ruzicka Award was created in his honor in 1957. It is given to young chemists working in Switzerland. In his hometown of Vukovar, a museum opened in his honor in 1977. The Ružička reaction, a chemical process, is also named after him.
Personal Life
Ružička was married twice. His first wife was Anna Hausmann, whom he married in 1912. In 1951, he married Gertrud Acklin. He lived in Zurich for many years. He passed away in Mammern, Switzerland, at the age of 89.
See also
In Spanish: Leopold Ružička para niños
