Background
Komppa was born in Viipuri in 1867.
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 Doctor of Philosophy Shortly after returning to Finland he became the professor of chemistry at the Helsinki University of Technology.
Universities of Uppsala, Copenhagen and Heidelberg invited him as an 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.
He was also a board member in several major Finnish corporations and a founding member of Finnish Academy of Science.